


Figuring it Out

by pompeiipilots



Series: We're Just Broken Series [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Author Derek, Cancer, Children, Derek Wears Glasses, Derek and Stiles are Mates, Derek and Stiles are married, Derek and Stiles have a daughter, Disneyland, Grandpa Stilinski - Freeform, Homophobia, Hospitals, Hunters, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Musically gifted child, Scott McCall is a Good Alpha, Stiles Wears Glasses, Stiles and Derek are good dads, Stiles has good taste in music, Terminal Illnesses, Uncle! Scott, perfect daughter, so many Bastille songs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-12-08
Packaged: 2018-02-11 19:55:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 101,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2081121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pompeiipilots/pseuds/pompeiipilots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles and Derek have had a great ten years of marriage. They started a family, they have a large house, they are fiscally okay, and everything is perfect. Or so they thought. As their daughter starts feeling the effects of the moon, she finds out more about Stiles and Derek's past, they soon get blasted with the the news that they didn't expect and everything turns from bad to worse.<br/>A sequel to the story "We're Just Broken"<br/>*Note, if you haven't read <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/1409923/chapters/2958619"> "We're Just Broken"</a>, I highly suggest you read it to better understand the story</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey wolfies! I'm back with the sequel I promised! Just going to warn you that you're going to feel a lot of feels, so here's my formal apology, but if you want to hang out with me on Tumblr, we can be friends and like drink tea and message each other or something. And don't be afraid to request prompts!

**10 years later:**

**Derek:** Derek flipped at some eggs as he heard his beautiful daughter bounding around upstairs. He watched her come hopping down the stairs, her light brown hair bouncing as she walked into the kitchen. She pushed herself up onto one of the bar chairs and watched Derek put the eggs on a plate and set out a glass.

                “Good morning sunshine,” He greeted, hugging her small frame and kissing her forehead.

                “Morning dad,” She smiled, her amber eyes glowing. She had Stiles’ hair and eyes, but other than that was a spitting image of Derek. She had freckles that sprinkled across her face and this big goofy smile that was like Stiles’. God he loved her. She was his whole world, of course, other than Stiles. And thank god she got the lycanthropy gene, so she wouldn’t have Stiles’ health problems, even though it is inevitable that she would eventually need glasses (even being a werewolf doesn’t always help sight problems unless you are transformed into a werewolf completely), but if that was the only thing, so be it.

                “Are you ready for your first day of school?”

                “I guess. 4th grade should be pretty fun,” Derek put one of the eggs on her plate.

                “Milk or orange juice?”

                “Milk, duh, orange juice is gross,” Derek pulled the milk gallon out of the fridge and poured her a glass.

                “Chocolate?” She nodded and Derek put some Nesquik in the glass and mixed it all up.

                “Thank you,” She said through a gulp of milk. He smiled and popped a pod into the Keurig and watched it make coffee. Thank god for Stiles who had to get up early for his job, because the water was always heated up and ready for when Derek woke up. She pushed her finished plate towards Derek and he put it in the sink and rinsed it off. She then went back upstairs, to where Derek presumed she would change out of her pajamas (which usually consisted of a pair of blue shorts and t-shirt) and into her first day of school outfit. Derek remembered when they had picked it out the day before. He spent hours going through the little girls section at JC Penny’s, trying to find something that wasn’t pink (pink was her least favorite color) and also trying to find the Toms she wanted. He also wished that the first day of school wasn’t on a Thursday so that maybe Stiles could have helped with the whole outfit picking (he was always better at that). She came down in the floral tank top and blue jean shorts with floral pockets that stuck out below the cut line of the shorts. She had her gray pair of Toms on and her new green and blue plaid backpack. She also put in a purple headband.

                “Okay, so did you brush your teeth?”

                “Yup!”  
                “Brush your hair,”

                “Yup!”

                “Do you have everything?” She patted her backpack.

                “All right here,”  
                “Okay, and daddy made you a lunch before he left,” Derek went running into the kitchen and grabbed the lunchbox out of the fridge (which matched the backpack. 9 year olds were so simple). He handed her the lunchbox and she shoved it inside the backpack. “Okay, let’s go,” Derek grabbed the keys off of the key holder and they went into the garage, getting into their Ford Escape (okay, so Stiles had finally convinced them to get a new car) and Derek started to drive towards the elementary school. At the stoplight, his phone started to ring, and he saw that it was Stiles. He answered it through the car.

                “Hello?”

                “Hey, are you in the car?”

                “Yup, heading to school?”

                “Hi daddy!” She said excited.

                “Hi Mykah! Having a good morning?”

                “Yeah,”  
                “Well, I just wanted to call and say I love you, and I hope you have an amazing day at school,” She smiled.

                “I love you too!”

                “Okay, bye cupcake!” Stiles hung up and Derek was smiling like a dumbass. Even after almost ten years of marriage, he always brought a smile on his face. Mykah was humming the tune to the turned down radio and Derek turned it up a little bit. Derek drove into a parking spot at the school and stopped the car.

                “Do you want me to walk you in?”  
                “Yeah,” He pulled the key out of the ignition and unlocked the doors. Mykah threw off her seatbelt and waited patiently for Derek to get out of the car. She walked next to him, taking about two steps to one of his steps. They weaved through the school until they found her classroom, where there were other kids and parents in the classroom crowding around. The teacher came up to Mykah with a clipboard and marked her name off.

                “Here’s your nametag,” She unstuck a label that was on a piece of paper, and Mykah stuck it to the corner of her shirt. “Find your name in the coat closet and hang your backpack there and find a seat,” Mykah nodded and bounced to the other side of the room.

                “You must be Mr. Hale,” The teacher said, looking Derek up and down.

                “Derek,”  
                “Alright, well I’m Ms. Spencer, and it’s a pleasure to have your daughter in our class,”  
                “Thank you,” Derek looked at Mykah across the room, socializing with another little girl. He smiled and looked at his phone, where a notification was flashing. It was about a book club meeting at the library in ten minutes.

                “Shit,” He said under his breath as he left the classroom. He ran out to the car and drove over to the other side of town as fast as he could, getting there about five minutes late. He ran into the library and finally found the book group in the dome of the library, which was usually used for kids’ activities but was the only large space in the library. He took a deep breath and walked in, everyone clapping.

                “There he is,” Linda, the leader of the book group said.

                “I’m sorry I was late, I was dropping my daughter off at the first day of school,” He sat at the front, where there was a chair set out for him. He was used to book groups. He had gone to a lot more after Stiles told him to open up and be less of a recluse.

                “So, we’ve been reading a lot of your books lately, including the “Rocky Fork Mystery Series”; “With Love, Derek Hale”; “Romancing the Wolf”; and “Introverted”.” Derek was smiling now.

                “Well I’m glad you took the time to read them,”

                “Well, they were all pretty amazing. Okay everyone, we’re going to start the question and answer, and we’ll try to get to all of them today,”

                “If it makes you feel better, I have nowhere to be until 4, so they can ask away,” everyone was smiling. And then, hands shot up. Derek picked the first question.

                “Okay, Mr. Smith, we heard that you’re using an anonymous name for all of your stories, and I was wondering, what is your real name?”

                “Well, even though it might sound cliché, it’s Derek Hale. That’s why I named that book that,”

                “So Stiles, was he a real person?”

                “That book is 100% true, and all of the event really happened,” And Derek was telling the truth on that, he just took out the parts in the book that would have given his werewolfness away.

                “So, how is Stiles?”  
                “Well, he’s still in remission, and it’s been 10 years now, and he’s still showing very little symptoms of dementia which is also amazing. But, after the book was published, we had a child together, Mykah. She’s almost ten now, and she is a handful, but she is so smart,” everyone awed at that and Derek picked a new question.

                “So, Mr. Hale,”  
                “Please, call me Derek,”

                “Okay, Derek, I was wondering what inspired you to write the Rocky Fork series?” Derek had to actually think about that one.

                “Well, I used to write stories a lot, and everyone used to tell me that I should try to publish some. I mean, I was trying to go to school to be a lawyer, but then we had some family issues, so I decided to give it a try, because I always had this good idea, so I submitted it to a publisher and they loved it, so yeah,” Derek took another question.

                “So, when do you expect to put out another book?”

                “Actually, I’ve been working on a new book. I don’t have a title for it yet, but it’s about basically our life so far raising a daughter,”

                “That’s amazing,” Derek answered a couple of other questions, and then a question came up and Derek didn’t know how to answer.

                “Okay, so you said you wanted to be a lawyer but you had to quit school to deal with the family thing, but why did you go back?” Derek’s stomach turned to cement.

                “Um, well, I didn’t really have a choice I guess. My whole family died in a house fire, everyone except my uncle Peter and my sister Laura, and then later my sister was murdered by the same arson who burned my family. There were some things I needed to take care of. Even though it was a tragedy, I found out later that my sister Cora survived and she was in hiding in South America. Then, the arson was killed and everything kind of resolved itself, but I couldn’t’ve gone back to school, I had too many obligations to take care of back home,” The whole room went silent. Derek was starting to feel awkward and he sunk back into his chair. “But I was planning to write a story about it, but I didn’t know how well it would do,”

                “Write it!” A chorus of people said and Derek was smiling.

                “Will do,” Derek answered a couple more questions before they died down and he left, heading back home. It was around noon, and he checked his phone and saw that he had a couple of texts from Stiles.

                **Getting off early today! I’ll be able to pick Mykah up** –Derek texted him back.

                **Sounds fine to me**

                He decided to go over to the book store and pick up some books for Mykah to read. He bought her a whole bunch of books at the beginning of summer and she had read all of them, and it was getting harder to buy her books. It also got to the point to where everyone in Barnes and Noble knew his name.

                “Back again Derek?” One of the clerks asked.

                “Yeah, you already knew what I’m looking for,”

                “Well, I’ve actually been expecting you sooner, but I have some books, just give me a second,” The clerk went behind the counter and grabbed back a load of books. “Where do you store all of these?”

                “We have a study with book shelves,” Derek chuckled as the clerk rang up the books. He ended up spending about $100, but he didn’t mind, because it was for Mykah, and also, books. I mean, it’s not like it was an iPhone, or something stupid. If it was music or books, Derek didn’t hesitate to pull out his credit card. And financially, they were doing really well. Stiles had gotten his dream job at Google, Derek was still writing books that became more and more popular after “With Love, Derek Hale” previewed, and all of his books were selling by the millions all across the world. Derek had never guessed that his life would have made such an upturn, and everything was going perfectly. He went back to the house and went into Mykah’s room. It was a large room with a window seat, with beautiful lime green curtains, and the seat lifted up to reveal her duct tape, which she made things out of. Her bed was a large queen bed with a flannel bedspread and wolves printed on them, and camouflage wallpaper only on the top three inches of the wall. She had a corkboard, like Stiles had in his art studio, where she had Stiles’ drawings, some newspaper clippings, and some buttons pinned into it. There was also a TV that hung on the wall and a small shelf next to it, full of movies, most kids movies, but a couple of documentaries and a few rated R movies that had historical significance. Derek admitted that they let Mykah watch some things that were a bit above her age level, but she was a good kid, and they weren’t picky on what she watched, knowing that she was capable of making good decisions.  He sat the book in a pile, just so she could pick which one she wanted to read first, and Derek or Stiles would alphabetize them in the study later. He didn’t know why, but he loved Mykah’s room. She had a whole bunch of band posters hanging everywhere, advertising Panic! At the Disco, Bastille, Imagine Dragons, and OneRepublic. She also had a wall in the room that she asked permission to paint on. At least once a year, she would paint over everything and restart. The room was also full of music. There were music books everywhere for everything, and she was good with music. And Derek just loved her so much, loved how similar she was to Stiles, and loved how she had such a big heart. She was so smart that her school had her tested into the gifted program, and were planning on putting her in it later that year when it got started up. The program usually chooses to wait for about a month before they start it so the kids can get accustomed to their new classroom.

                Derek went back downstairs and started debating what they should do for dinner. The door opened and Stiles walked in, wearing an android shirt and still having his name badge around his neck. Running in behind him was Mykah. She threw her backpack down in the corridor and sprinted towards Derek, hugging his legs.

                “Dad! School was so good today! Ms. Spencer is really nice and pretty and we went to music class today and I got to play the xylophone, it was so much fun!” She was bouncing with excitement. Derek picked her up and threw her in the air, catching her and kissing her on the forehead.

                “That’s great princess,”  
                “And Daddy got to pick me up!” Stiles sat his satchel on the coat hanger and kissed Derek on the cheek.

                “Hey hon,” He hung on Derek’s shoulders and Derek kissed his hand. “I’ll make dinner later, but Mykah wanted to go play in the yard in her treehouse and do a little music practice. She’s trying to learn some more music on her trumpet,” They looked outside to see Mykah climbing the ladder of the treehouse. The treehouse was ginormous, and had taken Derek and Stiles four months to build. An adult can stand all the way up in it, and there is a bridge that connects to another house. It is really a sight to see. They use one of the rooms for a music room, and they even have a power cord to connect lights, an electric piano, and an amp, and the other room has a whole bunch of chairs, pillows, blankets, and rugs, where she goes to read or watch movies on Stiles’ laptop, and sometimes just internet browse. Derek went outside and sat on the porch swing and listened to the beautiful music they were making. Yeah, it was a normal day, and Derek wouldn’t’ve traded anything for the life he was living now. Derek sipped at some tea and listened to Stiles write on the sheet music.

“Mykah, that’s a B♭, not a B, try again,”

                They finally came down from the treehouse and wrestled in the yard.

                “Daddy, will you braid my hair?”  
                “I sure will,” She laughed and sat in front of him cross-legged as he French braided her hair backwards. This was what fatherhood was like. It was amazing. Derek plucked a couple of flowers that were growing in the flower bed and slipped them into her hair. Her eyes lit up and she smiled. They ran back inside and Stiles started dinner.

                “So, how was work?”

                “Well, thanks to me, the Google page has an amazing new national back to school page, see?” He typed it up on his phone and showed Derek the page.

                “That’s amazing,” Derek smiled. There was a scream from upstairs.

                “Dad! Dad! Dad! You bought me books!” Derek went running upstairs to see her jumping with joy.

                “Thank you thank you thank you!!!” She squealed, a couple of flower petals from her hair falling onto the floor.

                “Anything for you, princess,” She went through the titles and picked out a book she wanted to read. Derek took the rest to the study. “I’m going to organize these, okay?” Mykah nodded and tagged along. Derek cracked open the doors to the study to reveal a room full of books. There were literally thousands. Occasionally, Derek would go through all of the books and donate some to the public and school libraries, Goodwill, book swaps, or he would take a box with him when he would do a small book tour to give to people to read and would sign them. He always kept his favorites, and he gave away the ones that he wanted to share with the rest of the world. The bookshelves were wall length, and there was a ladder to organize them. Derek went to the fiction section and organized them by author and quickly slipped them in a spot.

                “Will you show me how to shelve books?” Mykah asked as Derek got off of the ladder.

                “I will soon enough,” He said, patting her head. She smiled her cute little smile and Derek’s heart warmed. They both went downstairs and got prepared for dinner. They sat at the table as Stiles passed out the plates full of food and he sat down.

                “So, the doctor’s office called and I have an appointment scheduled next month,” Stiles said through a mouth full of green beans.

                “Oh yeah?”

                “Yup, not expecting anything new,” Stiles cracked a smile. He made the same comment every time he had an appointment with the cancer doctor.

                “Daddy, why do you go to the doctor so often?” Derek dropped his fork loudly on the plate and quickly picked it up.

                “Well baby, since I’m not a were, I have to go to the doctor to make sure I’m still doing okay,”

                “I know that, but you go pretty often for a human,” Stiles sighed. He looked over at Derek for a loophole and Derek mouthed tell her.

                “When I was about eighteen, I got diagnosed with an awful disease, a horrible disease that kills people, actually many people every single day,”

                “You had cancer?”

                “Um, yeah, I did, but it got cured, but I go to make sure it doesn’t come back, because that would be bad, right?” She nodded, but she had a confused face.

                “Why don’t you ask Uncle Scott to change you?”

                “Well, Uncle Scott offered, but I didn’t want to unless it was an emergency,”

                “But why?”

                “I guess I cling to my humanity too much,” He said, cutting up his chicken breast. “And also, I was supernatural for a while, and it wasn’t fun. I didn’t like it,”

                “You did? What happened?”

                “I’ll tell you someday,”

                “When I start feeling the effects of the moon?”

                “Yes, I feel like that would be appropriate, and we have plenty of stories to tell you about,” Derek added.

                “Okay,” Mykah finished her plate, excused herself from the table, and went upstairs to get ready for bed.

                “We really need to tell her everything that happened, I mean, she can’t just walk through life not knowing any of this, it is really important she know about why we didn’t stay in Beacon Hills,”

                “We didn’t stay in Beacon Hills because we needed to be closer to my school and my job,”

                “We moved because we needed to make a life without mass murders happening left and right. I mean, Allison’s gone, Aiden’s gone, Erica’s gone, Boyd’s gone, Isaac and Scott are both traumatized, you still have scars from it, I mean, we had to get out of there,” Derek paused to sigh. “And look, Chris didn’t tell Allison until she was almost 17, and where is she now? She’s in the ground. She’s dead Stiles, do you understand that?”  
                “Yes Derek, I am fully aware that she is dead!” Stiles yelled back. “The death was hard on me too, alright? Allison was one of my best friends,” He sternly looked at Derek, his eyes piercing.

                “Just, I know she’s going to be developing soon, I can sense it, and we need to be fully prepared, and I want to make sure everything isn’t going to go to complete shit again,”

                “Well, I mean, everything’s okay now, okay? We’re starting to figure it out. We’ll tell her when the time comes. It’ll be easier to understand,” Stiles blew it off like it was nothing. He collected the plates and put them in the dish washer. Derek got up and saw that Mykah was sitting at the top of the stairs looking down. He didn’t know how long she had been there, but as soon as he saw her, her small feet went quickly padding into her room and he heard her door shut. Derek decided that he wasn’t going to ask questions unless she started asking questions.

                “It might come faster than we anticipated,” Derek said, scooting in his chair.

                “We still have a while. But get the house ready, knowing Mykah, she’ll invite a friend over this weekend, probably after school tomorrow, knowing how she works,”

                “Okay, will do,” Derek went upstairs and peeked into Mykah’s room, seeing that she had the TV on mute and that she was nose deep in a book. He knew that she kept the TV on for a sense of company. She peered up from the pages and looked at him. “Mykah,” Derek started, sitting on the edge of her bed.

                “Dad, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t’ve been spying on the stairs, I’m sorry, I just, I should have butted out,” Derek wrinkled his face.

                “I didn’t come up for that, I came up to say goodnight,” He stroked his hand across her face. She closed her eyes and nuzzled her face in the crook of Derek’s neck.

                “Dad, who was Allison?” Derek patted her back and tried to find the correct words.

                “Well, she was a good friend of your dad and I’s, she was an amazing person, and she and Uncle Scott were in love,”

“But, Uncle Scott loves Aunt Kira,” She said confused. “Doesn’t he?”  
“Oh yes, he loves her very much, but Allison was a bit different,”  
“Different how?”

                “I’ll explain it to you when the time comes,”

                “When will the time come?”

                “Sooner than you think,” He kissed her forehead and tucked her into bed, putting the bookmark in her book and setting it on the nightstand. “Now, for right now, you’re going to have to go to bed, but you can have all the fun you want tomorrow,”

                “At school?” She replied, her face disgusted.

                “I don’t know, if you’re good, you can have a friend over,” Derek smiled. Stiles came in and sat next to Derek.

                “A friend? Anyone?”

                “Well, as long as their parents are okay with it,”

                “Thank you!” She hugged Derek and Stiles, smacking a big wet kiss on both of them. “I love you,”

“Oh really?” Stiles challenged. “How much?”  
“I love you to the moon and back,”

“The moon and back eh?”  
“Yeah, the moon and back 300 times,”

“300 times? Wow, you sure must love me. Do you love Daddy Derek as much?”  
“300 times for both of you to the moon and back!” She said excitedly.

                “What if I told you affection can’t be physically measured?”

                “I would say that is absolutely right because I’m using a metaphor,” Derek smiled. Of course his daughter would pick out a conversation and take it literal science and English.

                “Well, daddy and I are going to bed, night pumpkin,” Stiles then kissed Mykah’s forehead.

                “Goodnight,” They left the room and turned out the light, closing the door. It was then just Derek and Stiles. Derek loved Stiles’ scent. It was a feeling of home, affection, and a hint of vanilla, and Derek was enthralled by it. They both walked into the master bedroom and Stiles took off his glasses, putting them on the armoire and slipping out of is t-shirt and jeans and throwing on an old lacrosse t-shirt. Derek stripped to his boxers. They both crawled into the king bed and adjusted themselves against each other.

                “Can you believe what our lives have become?” Stiles fathomed, snuggling his face in Derek’s chest.

                “Just think, there was a point where we didn’t think you would have a life,” Derek said, rustling Stiles’ hair. “But you’re one of the greatest things to happen to me,” Derek could see Stiles smile as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

                “I love you,” He mumbled, dozing off.

                “I love you more,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                 Derek did his normal dad stuff. He got up right before Stiles left (making sure to give him a goodbye kiss), made coffee, and started on breakfast before Mykah finally woke up. Then he usually did a little reading before writing more on his book. He was almost done with another one of his books while he picked his brain for a title for his book about two-father parenting and how it had been going. Then, around 3:00, he would head over to the school and waited before going inside the gym to wait for Mykah. She came pretty much around the same time as usual, her pink tail braids that Derek had accomplished drifting over her shoulders. The ends had blue ribbon tied on them (Mykah’s preference) and she had a plaid shirt on that was unbuttoned with a white printed tank top underneath. It was pretty much the little girl’s interpretation of a Stiles outfit, and on this particular day, she was looking a lot like him. He grabbed her up and gave her a hug, spinning her in a small circle before letting her down carefully on the ground. She then got distracted and ran towards one of her friends. Derek chuckled to himself and stepped back.

                “Kids huh?” One of the moms commented, a purse wrapping around her midsection.

                “Yeah,” He said nodding.

                “I’m Carol by the way. Carol Bernadette,” She extended her hand and Derek shook it.

                “I’m Derek Hale,”

                “Do you happen to be the father of Mykah Hale?”

                “Yeah, that’s me,”  
                “Well, that’s all I hear from Kara, she talks about her nonstop,” Derek smiled.

                “Does she now?” Mykah and who Derek assumed was Kara came running up to them.

                “Dad, can I have Kara sleep over tonight?” Derek looked at Carol.

                “It depends if Kara’s mom is okay with it, I know it is a little short notice…”

                “No, that would be fine, what’s your address?”

                “301 Allegro Lane,” Derek said, pulling out one of the business cards from his wallet and writing it on the back of it, and finally handing it to her.

                “Is it okay if we come by around 5?”  
                “That’s perfectly fine,” Carol smiled.

                “Okay, see you then,” She looked Derek up and down and he immediately felt a little bit self-conscious.  Mykah looked at him, smelling the embarrassment on him.

                “What’s wrong dad?”

                “Oh, nothing, just forgot to do something I was planning to do today,” Derek said. It was true, but Derek had already planned to do it when he got home. “Anyway, how would you like to go over to Beacon Hills and see a marching band show tomorrow night?”

                “Really? But I didn’t think they were having any football games for a while,”

                “No, they aren’t, but because daddy was involved in band, he gets a special invite to the preview of the show, I mean, unless you don’t’ wanna go…”  
                “No! I wanna go!” Derek popped the trunk of the car open and Mykah stuffed her backpack back there. She then got in the front seat and snapped her seatbelt.

                “Well good,” Derek started to drive home. Mountain Springs was a pretty nice town, and the people were great, but he still missed Beacon Hills. Kira and Scott had planned to stay there, so that gave him and Stiles an excuse to visit, but he was glad they moved away. Since moving away, Stiles has had very few panic attacks or PDSD (from the Nogitsune), and he also had less “bad” days. It was better for Derek too. He didn’t have to go near the remains (more like property now) of his house, and he didn’t always feel he was in mortal danger.

                “So, when’s Kara coming over?” Mykah asked as she trotted into the house, her backpack hanging low on her small shoulders.

                “In like an hour,” He replied, going to the couch. He turned on the news and watched as she leaned against the back of the couch. “Do you have any homework?” She shook her head.

                “Not yet anyway,”

                “Well, how about you go practice piano. If you do it now, I won’t make you do it all weekend unless you want to,”

                “What about daddy?”

                “I’ll take care of that,” Derek smirked. By “take care of that” he meant that he would send Mykah over to Stiles’ dad’s house so they could have a date night/ sex night. There’s nothing like a young werewolf to hear her dads having sex in the house.

                “Okay,” She went into the study and Derek could hear her shuffle through music to find a piece to play. She gracefully went through the notes with very minimal errors and then stopped for a second. He then started to hear [Viva la Vida by Coldplay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvgZkm1xWPE). He smiled and hummed the lyrics as she did the chords and melody on the piano. It sounded amazing. She finally finished after a while, Derek sensing her boredom. She went back into the living room.

                “There, I practiced it,” She said with a smartass attitude. That’s the one attribute that he wished that she didn’t get from Stiles, but her bull-headed stubbornness made her very persuasive and overall a leader figure.

                “Okay, well, how about you go get your trumpet and play me some Louis Armstrong, eh?”

                “Dad, I can’t do that,” Derek made a confused face.

                “Why not?”

                “Duh, Kara plays flute and she’s bringing it, and after I play trumpet a lot it hurts my mouth,” She blew her cheeks out like a blowfish and released the air.

                “Well, then sit here and watch the news with me,”  
                “The news sucks,”  
                “My TV, you can watch something in your room,” She groaned and trudged her way up the stairs. “Don’t stomp too hard, I don’t want you to break the stairs, me and your father paid a lot of money for this house you know,” She waved her hand and walked down the hall to her room. Kids. He chuckled and continued to watch the news. He was a bit disappointed that Stiles had to work late (something on improving the software layout of one of Google’s applications. To be honest, Derek wasn’t too interested in that type of stuff, but Stiles understood) but it was whatever. He got out his laptop and continued with his story. He then came up with a great idea for a possible sequel to his book “Introverted” and quickly jotted it down before pinning it to his personal cork board in the study. Okay, so maybe a little bit of Stiles had rubbed off on him. He was not ashamed to admit it. He heard Mykah start bounding down the stairs at full speed.

                “Dad, they’re here!” She yelled waiting patiently by the door. They rang the doorbell and Mykah waited a couple of seconds before opening it. Kara came in and dropped her sleeping bag that was under her arm.

                “Wow, your house is like a palace,” She marveled, spinning in a circle.

                “Well, we’re gonna spend the night in the treehouse tonight. My dad’s going to get the flat screen TV and hook up the DVD player to it so we can watch movies. And my daddy makes the best popcorn,” It was true, Stiles did make some amazing popcorn. Kara picked up her sleeping bag and ran to the backyard with Mykah and they got settled, Derek hearing their excited squeals.

                “So, what are the plans for tonight?” Carol asked, rolling back on her heels.        

                “Oh, we’re probably going to just do whatever they want to do, and knowing Mykah they’ll spend all night in that treehouse,”  
                “How big is the treehouse,” Derek waved his hand for Carol to come in the door. She followed him outside and Derek motioned towards the large linked treehouse in their amazingly large trees. “Holy shit,” She mumbled under her breath. “That’s some treehouse,”

                “Thanks, I helped build most of it actually,” Derek said, looking through the window at the girls waving.

                “So, is it just you and Mykah?” She asked.

                “Tonight? Yeah, probably,” Derek scratched at his beard before putting his hand in his jeans pocket.

                “No, I meant like, is there someone else that lives with you,” She clarified.

                “Well, my significant other,”

                “You’re married?” Derek held out his left hand.

                “We’ve been hitched for almost 10 years,” He smiled. Carol’s face dropped in disappointment. “So, are you married?”

                “No, recently divorced actually,” She sighed. “Yeah, Kara hasn’t been taking it too hard. She’s at her dad’s pretty equally as my house, but I think she just figured that it would have happened sooner or later,” Derek tried to imagine if he ever got divorced with Stiles. It literally couldn’t happen, there was too much passion in their relationship for them to stop loving each other, even after 10 long, twisting years. “Well, what time do you want me to pick her up?”

                “How about 10, is that okay?”  
                “That’s fine, well, I’ll see you later I guess,” She awkwardly walked into the house and back to her car. Derek could hear the trumpet and flute duet going on in the treehouse.

                “What do you want for dinner? Derek said, normal voiced. Even though he was sitting on the back patio, which was a good 500 feet from the treehouse, he knew Mykah could hear him.

                “Cheeseburgers,” She said, also normal voiced. Derek went back inside to see if he could get a couple more chapters done on his story and then he was going to start grilling. Maybe Stiles would be home by then. He got the hamburger from the sink where it was thawing and started pounding out patties, seasoning the meat the way Mykah, him, and Stiles liked to eat it. He also got out some corn on the cob to put on the grill, knowing it would be a good choice. After Derek had the hamburger patties ready, Stiles was calling him.

                “Hey hon,” He answered, wiping his hands on one of the towels that draped over the oven handle.

                “Hey Der, I’m headed home now. Sorry, we had some bugs with the software and I wasn’t able to leave,” Derek put the hamburgers on a plate and carried them outside. “And I assume that Mykah brought home a friend?”

                “Yeah, it’s Kara, and I’m making burgers, and if you could stop by the store and pick up some pizza rolls and Snapple, that would be great. And maybe some beer. Hold on, so where are you now?”  
                “I’ll be going through Beacon Hills soon. I wanted to drop by dad’s birthday gift,”

                “Awesome, well, do you wanna get some more whiskey from Deaton, I ran out,” Derek knew that Stiles knew he needed more wolfsbane to infuse in his alcohol.

                “Will do, I’ll be home in about twenty minutes, probably fifteen if you shoot Deaton a text telling him I’m coming by,”  
                “Okay, I love you,”

                “Love you too, bye!” Stiles hung up the phone and Derek quickly texted Deaton and then started some coals outside on the grill. Derek looked over at the deck, where they had an in-ground pool with a large cover over it.  He then blue toothed his phone to the outside speakers and played a Pandora playlist as he lit the coals. He heard Mykah and Kara laughing in the treehouse, and talking about something that had happened at school.

                “Hey dad,” Mykah stuck her head out one of the windows.

                “Yes hon,”  
                “Can Kara and I go swimming?”

                “I don’t care, let me pull up the cover and you two go get your swimsuits on,” They quickly ran from the treehouse and inside the house. Derek pulled the cover off and set it to the side of the deck before tending to the burgers. By the time the girls got downstairs, the food was ready. Derek put them on paper plates and served them at the patio table, Kara immediately chomping down on her ear of corn. “Later you need to call Grandpa John and wish him a happy birthday, and thank him for the sheet music he bought you,”  
                “Okay, I will,”

                “Wow, your grandpa bought you sheet music? That’s awesome, my grandma and grandpa take me shopping,” Mykah nodded and wiped her face with a napkin.

                “Grandpa John doesn’t take me shopping, but he’s also the sheriff of Beacon County, so he usually doesn’t have extra time,” Mykah shrugged and finished off her plate. When she and Kara finished, they jumped into the pool. Derek went back inside and cleaned up the utensils, leaving a burger and ear of corn for Stiles out on the bar counter. Derek then went back outside and watched them have a handstand contest. God were they so full of energy. He was pretty sure that Mykah got it from Stiles, because even as a 29 year old adult, he was still very loud and obnoxious and energetic. Mykah came up from the water and got out of the pool and started running towards the door. Derek wasn’t paying attention, but Stiles had just walked in.

                “Daddy!” She jumped and Stiles caught her and hugged her.

                “Hey princess, how was school?”

                “It was good!”

                “Who did you bring home?”

                “This is Kara,” Kara shyly got out of the pool.

                “Wow, well, it’s nice to meet you Kara,”

                “So, you have two dads?” Kara asked, confused.

                “Yeah. That’s my dad, and that’s my daddy,” She pointed.

                “That’s really cool!” Kara said smiling. “I have a mom and a dad, but they’re divorced now I guess. Now I stay at two different houses, but my dad’s new house is really nice and my room is pretty big, it’s like yours,” She commented. The two girls grabbed their towels and headed back upstairs to change into pajamas.

                “This is going to be a long night,” Stiles handed Derek a flask and a bottle of beer.

                “I know it is, but she wanted a friend over, and you know how it is,”

                “I know. Are you nervous about taking her to Beacon Hills tomorrow? I mean, we usually go to Scott and Kira’s, or my dad’s, but we’re actually taking her to my old high school. Where most of my friends were brutally murdered.

                “Well, it’s been a while, maybe things have changed. Deaton is pretty close to the school, I can protect her, and we can convince Scott to come with us if you feel that superstitious,”  
                “I think we’ll be okay, just, memories. There’s a reason I hated high school,”

                “Yeah, same,” Derek tilted the bottle back and took a long swig.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles and Derek were up early the next morning. Stiles made breakfast and Derek nursed   cup of coffee in his hands at the bar. They were both dressed and ready for the day, and the girls were still in the treehouse sleeping. Derek wasn’t surprised. That kid could sleep forever if you gave her the opportunity, and Derek was pretty sure it was coming from feeling the effects of the moon (which was pretty much like werewolf puberty, except uglier and meaner, and more brutal and violent), which Derek estimated to take full effect at the full moon on Sunday night.

                He heard the two girls rustle around before walking across the yard and into the kitchen, where Stiles put chocolate chip pancakes on each of their plates, setting a bottle of syrup out. They quietly ate and Derek and Stiles talked on the other side of the room.

                “Next weekend Scott and Kira are having a get together at their house, are we going to go?” Stiles ate a couple bites of pancake.

                “We can I guess, we don’t have anything going on, right?”

                “I don’t think so,”

                “Then we should plan on it,” Derek took another sip of his coffee and Stiles stole the cup and drank from it. The girls finished and scampered upstairs to get ready. It was almost 10, which meant that Carol would be coming to get Kara soon. And as if it was on cue, the doorbell rang and Derek ran to answer it. As guessed, it was Carol.

                “Hey,” She greeted, her short brown hair being pushed off of her shoulders by the wind.

                “Hey, I’m pretty sure the girls are still getting ready,” Derek looked up the stairs, where he heard Mykah note that Kara’s mom was there.

                “Who’s at the door hon?” Stiles’ voice rang from the kitchen.

                “It’s Kara’s mom, come say hi,” Carol looked confused for a second and the confusion cleared when Stiles walked behind Derek and pressed his lips to Derek’s cheek. He looked at Carol and gave a warm smile. “Stiles, this is Carol,” Stiles extended his hand out to shake hers and she hesitantly did the same.

                “So, you two are…”

                “Together? Yes,” Stiles responded, his smile revealing his dimples. She looked slightly disgusted. Stiles saw the expression and his face fell. They stood there awkwardly for several seconds before the girls came down in fresh clothes, Mykah with her hair fishtail braided to the side and a silky headband in with a green V-neck shirt that hung loosely on her frame.

                “Mom! I had such a good time! They have a pool and Mykah’s room is amazing!” Carol grabbed Kara and pulled her away from Mykah and towards the door.

                “Well, thanks for having her,” She said half-heartedly.

                “Can I come back again?” Kara asked.

                “Sure, as long as your mom’s okay with it,” Derek replied, the girl smiling and looking at her mother.

                “We’ll discuss this in the car,” She spat, dragging Kara behind her and slamming the door. Stiles’ eyes widened, and so did Derek’s. Mykah then had a couple of tears going down her face.

                “Kara’s mom is yelling at her, saying that she can’t hang out with me because my parents are…” She paused, wiping the tears off of her face. “Fags.” Derek had heard them yelling too about that, and didn’t know what to say. Stiles scooped the small girl up and she wiped her face on his shirt.

                “Everything’s okay baby, really,” He patted her back and hiccupping wails came from the small being. Derek then joined Stiles in the hug.

                “Sometimes people don’t know how to react to others that are different,”

                “But, but she called you guys an awful name. She knew how to react,” Mykah slurred, breathing heavily. Her heart rate was skyrocketing and Derek knew that they needed to calm her down, especially this close to a full moon and the possibility of her first shift.

                “Some people just don’t accept homosexual couples, and that’s not really okay, but they are entitled to an opinion and how they choose to raise their children, and even though it sucks, it sucks, I know, we’re going to have to accept that,” Mykah sniffled, her heart rate decreasing slightly.

                “Okay,” She finally accepted, a bit worn out from her large crying fit.

                “We’re going to go spend the day at Grandpa John’s today, would you like that?” She nodded, grabbing a fistful of Stiles’ shirt, slightly popping the stitches on the seam of the collar.

                It took a while to get her completely calmed down, but once they succeeded, they finally got the car packed with her trumpet and some music and headed to Beacon Hills. It was about a 20 minute drive if you took the highway, and Derek was a bit eager to get over there. The Stilinski house was one of the only houses that he trusted for security from the supernatural, mainly because John kept some supplies on hand in case something awful dared to happen again. The only other houses that Derek felt safe to take Mykah into were Scott and Kira’s, Melissa’s, and Deaton’s (whether it was the animal clinic or his actual house). They finally arrived to the house and Mykah got out of the car, popping the back hatch up and grabbing the handle of her trumpet, the music stuffed in the outside pocket of the soft shelled case. She excitedly rang the doorbell and bounced from her toes to her heels. John opened the door with open arms and Mykah hugged him.

                “Grandpa!” She got on her tippy toes and gave him kisses. He laughed and moved out of the way of the door, Mykah setting her trumpet case near the door. Stiles hopped in the house, taking a deep breath of air and vacating outside. They all sat around in the patio chairs and talked.

                “So, anything supernatural been going on?” Stiles asked nonchalantly.

                “Nope, not since everyone kind of moved around,” He responded, taking a drink of his soda. Stiles spotted the can and grabbed it off of the table, crunching it in his hand. Soda spilled all over his arm as he made a point to throw it in the trashcan. John looked 100% done with Stiles’ shit.

                “Dad,”

                “Stiles, c’mon, it was just a soda, just one,”

                “Nope, there’s a reason I come by so often dad, and it’s to make sure you’re still eating healthy,” Mykah laughed. John glared at his son and Stiles stared him down. Then, John changed the subject.     

                “So, are those a new pair of glasses?” Stiles adjusted them on his face.

                “Nope, they’re the same,” John shrugged.

                “How’s Mama Melissa?” Mykah asked, crossing her legs in the chair.

                “She’s good. Saving lives like usual. Oh and Stiles, you might drop by Danny’s and see how he’s doing. He just got home, he had another issue with his chest,” Stiles took off his glasses and cleaned the frames.

                “Okay, I’ll text him later,”

                “Who’s Danny?”

                “Danny is a friend of me and dad’s, and he’s really nice, and he knows about Weres,”

                “He does?”  
                “Yeah, he was dating Ethan for a while? Remember, we saw Ethan,”

                “Yeah, I remember him, and his twin died,”

                “Yeah, he and Aunt Lydia dated for a while, but she got back with Uncle Jackson,” Mykah looked a bit confused, and even Derek had issues keeping it all straight sometimes, so it was no wonder.

                “Are Uncle Scott and Aunt Kira going to come with us to the marching band show?” Mykah asked with her large, whiskey eyes.

                “I don’t know, I’ll call them later and ask, but don’t you want to show Grandpa John the song you learned on the trumpet?” She nodded her head and went and pulled it out of the case, putting the mouthpiece on it and warming up a little bit. Then she started to play [Bird land](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8q6sR6yZCE) perfectly. John smiled and was mesmerized about how his granddaughter could play at such an amazing capacity.

                “See grandpa? That’s the music you bought me!”

                “I know, that’s one of my favorite jazz pieces, and I knew you would have wanted it,” Derek looked at John’s face. He looked older, but not as old as he did at the hospital with Stiles 11 years prior to now.

                Around five, they headed over to Scott and Kira’s to carpool over to the marching band preview. They were going to grab a bite to eat afterwards. When Scott saw Mykah, he showered her in kisses and hugs. He was such a sweetheart, and loved Mykah like it was her own daughter. Kira loved her too, but didn’t have the pack connection like Scott did to Mykah, so loving her any more than Scott was literally impossible.

                “Hi pup,” He greeted, rustling her hair. She laughed and pulled her arms around his hips. “How has my beautiful niece been?”

                “I’ve been very content,” She said, smiling.

                “Wow, showing off your new vocabulary eh?” She nodded. “That comes from Derek,”

                “And Stiles,” She said, looking over at them. Scott picked her up and flipped her backwards, Mykah holding onto his arm that he was spinning her with as hard as she could.

                “Dang, you have a death grip, don’t ya?”

                “You know it,” They all piled into the Escape and rode over to the high school. Stiles was slightly shaking, and giving off a lot of anxiety and fear. They pulled into the parking lot and they all headed towards the football field and found a seat in the bleachers. Mykah and Stiles ran down to the front and hung over the railing to get a better view. Derek then saw Stiles’ old music teacher start to converse with him.

                “Ah Stiles, you came!”

                “I wouldn’t miss it, and I’m really excited for the theme this year,” The theme was Edgar Allen Poe’s The Red Masque with an amazing requiem as the score.

                “I have to say, I am really proud of this theme, and who’s this?” He pointed to Mykah and she blushed slightly.

                “This is my daughter Mykah,” She smiled and looked back up at Stiles.

                “You know, your daddy was an amazing musician, right?”

                “Yeah, he’s really good, that’s why he’s teaching me,”

                “Teaching you? What instruments?”

                “Piano, guitar, and trumpet,”  
                “Trumpet eh?” The band director went across the field and got a trumpet that was lined up for the show. He then handed it to her.

                “Show me what you got,” Mykah smiled and played a jazz solo on it, one that most nine year olds wouldn’t be able to accomplish. “Wow, that’s amazing! Stiles, you’re doing an amazing job, and Mykah, you have a gift,” She smiled and handed the trumpet back. “Well, I’ve gotta go start the show I guess, I’ll talk to you guys later!” He waved as he left and Mykah and Stiles went back to their seats. Mykah sat between Scott and Derek, leaning her head on Derek’s shoulder. They watched the band first play a couple of pieces and show off their drill, and then they showed the first movement of the show, and it was amazing, considering these kids didn’t have a lot of time to memorize the music and memorize the movements. Once the show was over, everyone started to slowly roll out of the stadium, and the pack walked back to the car. They ran back into the music instructor and Stiles continued the conversation they were having earlier.

                “So, what do you do now?”

                “I’m a software program developer and graphic design artist for Google,”  
                “Wow, that’s amazing. And I see you got married,”

                “Yup, going on ten years,” Stiles smiled.

                “So, how have you been, with, you know, everything,” Derek knew he was asking about the cancer.

                “Well, so far I’m still in remission, which is amazing, and I’m really thankful, and so far everything has been going pretty well, you know. What about you?”  
                “Well, the music program here just keeps dwindling down, more to lack of enrollment and lack of staff, but I have to say I’m looking forward to this one coming here,”  
                “Oh, I’m sorry, we don’t live in Beacon Hills anymore. We live in Mountain Springs,”

                “Wow, that sucks, we’re going to have to compete with this when she enrolls for high school,” He shook his head. “But considering all of the shit that happened when you were going to high school here, I’m not surprised. If that had happened to me, I would have moved to a different country,” He shrugged.

                “Well, we better get going, I’ll talk to you later, yeah?”

                “Yeah, that would be amazing, please keep in touch Mr. Stilinski, er, Hale,”

                “Will do, have a good night Mr. Smith” Stiles gave a warm smile and then started to walk towards the car.

                “Daddy, that’s what I wanna do when I get into high school. That’s awesome,” She was beaming with excitement. “I can do that, right?”

                “Of course you can,”  
                “That was just so awesome, with all of the-.” She cut herself off by a loud scream. Derek looked down at his daughter to see blood pouring from her chest. She had been shot by a hunter. “Dad, dad it’s not healing, DAD! She yelled. Derek quickly stood in front of her and Stiles scooped her up and put her in the car. Scott got in the driver’s seat. Derek got into the backseat with Stiles and Mykah, Mykah bleeding all over Stiles’ jeans. Scott floored it to Deaton’s and Derek tried to calm Mykah down.

                “You’re okay baby, it’s going to be okay,” She continued to whimper, her eyes glowing yellow, which was the first time Derek had seen her eyes change. They finally arrived and Stiles cradled Mykah next to him as they all ran into the veterinary clinic. Deaton was writing on a piece of paper at the front desk and immediately opened the small door. They all ran to the back of the clinic and put her on the metal table. She grabbed Derek’s arm, leaving claw marks in his skin. Stiles petted her hair as she thrashed around. Deaton lifted her shirt to reveal the bullet hole. Mykah turned her head and threw up black sludge all over the floor.

                “You’re going to have to keep her still, I need to get that bullet out,” Deaton said calmly. He got out a scalpel and Scott held her down.

                “What are they doing?” She tried to throw her head up, but Derek kept it down.

                “We need to get the bullet out,” Derek said as calmly as possible. Deaton pulled the scalpel close to her skin and Stiles threw his hand over her eyes. Deaton made an incision but Mykah was starting to fade. He pulled the bullet out and she exhaled very loudly, signaling relief. The incision healed, but the bullet hole was still there.

                “She’s okay now, but it’s going to take a couple of days for her to completely recuperate, considering whoever shot her gave her an adult dose of wolfsbane, so try to have her sleep as much as possible tomorrow,” Derek and Stiles both nodded. “And it’s going to take a while for that bullet wound to heal, so don’t be overly concerned if it’s not gone within a couple of hours,” Deaton got some gauze and wrapped around the area. “I also gave her some stuff so she will be able to sleep through the night and let her body heal,” Deaton threw his gloves in the trash can and Derek picked up Mykah, her limp, fatigued body looking so small in his arms.

                “Thank you,” Derek said, hugging his daughter close to him. They got in the car and Scott drove back to their house.

                “I’m going to stay at you guys’ house tonight,” Scott said once they got in the house.

                “You don’t have to Scott, really,”  
                “No, I need to make sure I keep her safe. She may be your daughter, but she’s my niece, and she’s a part of my pack now, so we need to keep her safe for at least tonight,” Stiles and Derek knew there was no arguing, and if Derek was still alpha, he would have done the same thing, that’s the thing about Scott. He was very selfless, similar to Derek except he thought through things more than Derek, and was overall a better alpha, and Derek didn’t mind that.

                “Okay, fine,” Stiles half-sassed back.

                “Honestly, if none of you were going to suggest it, I was,” Kira said partially quietly. “No `offense, but I don’t think Derek could take whoever the hunter is by himself, especially if they decide to come and find you, and who knows, it could have been just a fluke thing that they saw you and think you live in the area, but still, we need to keep her safe,” Kira was a very persuasive person by character, mostly due to the fact that she was a kitsune, but at the same time, she did make a very valid point.

                “Okay, but just for tonight until she can get her stamina back up,” Derek said. “Because even though she might not look it, that girl has some fight in her for a young were, and I hate to say it, but she’s going to start feeling the effects of the moon. I saw her eyes change tonight for the first time,” Scott didn’t look too surprised.

                “Okay,” Scott, Derek, and Stiles left the house and went back into the car, Mykah still fast asleep in the back. Scott sat in the back and pulled her onto his lap and rubbed her shoulder.

                “Is she in any pain?” Stiles asked as he merged onto the highway,”  
                “A little, but not much,” Scott replied, putting his hand on her arm and drawing a little bit of it out. She whimpered a little bit and rolled over to her side in Scott’s lap. They finally got back to the house and got Mykah changed into some fresh clothes. Scott checked the bullet hole to see that it had healed a little bit, but was still a gaping wound.

                “I don’t have to work tomorrow and I can take off Monday if I need to, I texted my mom and warned her that I might not be there,” Scott worked at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital with Melissa. He was a pediatrics doctor with very high honors, but he always took off when it involved his favorite niece. He was trying to learn to do emissary stuff, but because he was a werewolf, he usually left it to Deaton, considering he couldn’t always use all of the remedies that Deaton could use. I’m going to sleep in the guest room downstairs, and suggest one of you stay in the room with Mykah. Knowing from experience, the stuff that Deaton gave her makes you pretty much dead to the world, so if anything happens, we need some to hear it,” He went back downstairs.

                “Tomorrow we should tell her why we moved away from Beacon Hills. We need to tell her about the hunters. It would be different if wasn’t as big of a deal now, but it is, so as soon as she’s up, we need to tell here everything,” Stiles said, pulling his shirt off. Stiles looked at the tattoo on his arm. He was so used to the black ink on his skin there that he couldn’t imagine how Stiles looked without it. He also studied his chest, where he had dozens of scars. The one that showed the most was the one from his surgery. It was right below his ribs on Stiles’ right side, and it looked deeper than the others. Stiles looked at Derek looking and he kind of awkwardly covered himself with his arm. Derek knew that Stiles was still self-conscious about the scar, but Derek thought it was beautiful, and it showed that he was a fighter, and that he was strong, but he remembered the conversation that he had with Stiles about this, hearing Stiles call himself ugly because of it, and Derek still tried to rid him of such thought, even when they talked about the scars on his arms and wrists, he still thought the same way, so Derek didn’t talk about them as much anymore.

                “I agree. And also, we need to get the basement ready for tomorrow night, I’m pretty sure she’ll be feeling it, and after dealing with the full moon and the hunter stuff, let’s have her take a day off of school tomorrow,” Stiles threw on another shirt and crawled into bed with Mykah to watch her.

                “Okay, well, we should probably go to bed,” Stiles said, cuddling into the other side. Derek nodded and went into his and Stiles’ room, and laid in an empty bed, something he hadn’t done in a long while.


	2. Chapter 2

**Stiles:** Stiles woke up to Mykah’s arm thrown over him, and grabbed his bearings. He yawned and pulled his glasses onto his face, revealing a clearer world. He brushed Mykah’s arm and she woke up, her eyes fluttering in the sunlight that was intensely coming in through the window. She groaned and pulled herself out of bed and Stiles stopped her.

                “Hon, you gotta stay here, okay?” She rubbed her eyes and looked up at him.

                “Why?” Derek tucked her back in.

                “We need to wait for Uncle Scott to come look at you to make sure you’re healed up, but you need a lot of energy for tonight,”

                “What’s tonight?”

                “We think you’re going to change. Changing is a lot of work, I was with Uncle Scott on his first change, and it was bad, and his second one I had to handcuff him to the radiator with Grandpa’s handcuffs, and he was very violent, and with you getting hurt last night, we need to make sure you have enough energy to completely change or you’ll get yourself sick,” Stiles petted her hair down and heard someone climbing the stairs. Scott entered the room, changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt. He went over to Mykah and looked at the wound, seeing it was almost healed, but not completely. It was still going to need a couple of hours. He then proceeded downstairs and Stiles sat on the edge of her bed.

                “Der?” He called. “Mykah’s up,” Derek walked into the room, his hair sloppy and his shirt off. “So, we have some things to tell you,” Stiles started, Mykah groaning and pulling herself in an upright sitting position. “So, you know how your dad and I used to live in Beacon Hills, but we moved here?”  
                “Yeah…”  
                “Well, it was due to some things that happened there, when I was in high school. Actually a lot of things. Anyway, we’ve told you the story on how Uncle Scott got turned by Uncle Peter, but after that happened, everything went downhill. Peter was trying to kill everyone, and so we killed him, but the only issue is that he bit Aunt Lydia, and we didn’t think she was going to survive the bite and was in the hospital for a while, but it turned out that she was immune to the bite,”

                “Immune? How?”

                “Well, she’s not necessarily human, she’s a banshee, which means she can sense death, but we didn’t know that at the time. And when your dad became alpha, he bit Uncle Jackson, but Jackson didn’t turn into a werewolf, he turned into a kanima, which is like this lizard werewolf thing that is controlled by people who want to go against society, and the person controlling him killed a lot of people, including a lot of my good friends,” Mykah’s face was appalled.

                “Why are you telling me this?”

                “You’ll find out soon. But Allison, who when Uncle Scott got bit, was the apple of his eye, and he loved her, but she was a hunter, along with her family, they were werewolf hunters, and after we killed the person who was controlling Jackson, Allison’s evil grandfather took control of it and tried to kill Jackson and other people. This was also when your dad was trying to build up his pack and turned Erica, Boyd, and Isaac. Along with all of this, Lydia was able to bring Peter back to life, and Peter helped us turn Jackson back to normal, but then he moved to London,” Stiles took a breath and Derek continued where he left off.

                “Then, Erica and Boyd were stolen, and we couldn’t find them for months, because they were stolen by an alpha pack, and that’s also where we found Aunt Cora, who I thought had died in the house fire, but was still alive. They were locked in a bank vault and we released them, but since they missed a couple of moons, they were really feral, and we thought they were killing people, but it was really an evil spirit who was committing human sacrifice and killing our friends, but the alpha pack ended up killing Erica and Boyd, and once that was done, they tried to kill all of the parents, but we saved them by bringing life back to this magical tree called the Nemeton, which happened to sit on top of this root cellar where the parents were trapped,”  
                “Wait, so Allison, was she Scott’s mate?”

                “Well, we never knew if that was true or not, but we suspected it,” Stiles said.

                “Anyway, Cora also got sick, and to save her, I had to give up my alpha power and go back to a beta so she would survive, and Scott became alpha because of good character, which is called a true alpha, and is the purest alpha ever, and it’s very rare. But everything was okay for a while, and then Kira’s family moved in. As you know, Aunt Kira is a kitsune, and so is her mom, but when they moved here, they also wrestled up a thousand year old demon that possessed daddy. He kept sleepwalking when he would sleep, had really bad sleep deprivation, was very anxious, and just wasn’t himself, and so he went to the hospital after almost dying of hypothermia after sleepwalking outside on the coldest night of the year, and they found out that he had dementia,”

                “Which is what my mom died of, well, more like complications caused by dementia,” Stiles finished, his voice cracking a little bit.

                “But, we thought it was just the demon, so once we got it out of daddy, we went back to have another MRI done to confirm that yeah, he did have dementia for real this time,”

                “Does he have it now?”

                “Yes, yes he does, but it’s been ten years and it hasn’t progressed, which is a miracle, so we’re thinking it’s just a fluke, but yeah, that’s why we moved from Beacon Hills and we tried to keep this from you to keep you safe, and we were going to tell you when you started feeling the effects of the moon, but we kind of needed to tell you after the whole hunter fiasco,” Mykah nodded.

                “Well, I would have moved away way before that, god that town sounds awful,”

                “It wasn’t a bad town, it was just a magnet for the supernatural, which there’s nothing wrong with supernatural, unless it’s trying to kill you,” Derek hit Stiles on the back and he shut up.

                “But I feel funny,” Mykah said, rubbing her arms. She looked up and her eyes glowed.

                “That’s because you’re feeling the effects of the moon,” Derek said. “The first time is always the worst, so we decided to have you take a day off of school on Monday so you don’t have to worry about anything, because literally everything changes tonight. Your eyes will change, you’ll grow fangs, you’ll be an animal, not just with the scent, the hearing, and the strength which you’ve always possessed, and you’re going to want to kill something you’re going to want to kill me, kill daddy, kill Scott, everyone. So we’re going to make sure you’re well rested and full of protein before the moon rises,” Mykah seemed genuinely concerned.

                “I don’t want to kill anyone,” She said, burying her face in her knees.

                “You won’t once you learn control, but control takes a while, it’s not easily learned,” She nodded her head.

                “I’m scared,”

                “Baby, there’s nothing to be scared of, but you’re just going to have to trust us, alright?” Stiles was doing his best to comfort her, but how could you tell your nine year old daughter that she was about to turn into a monster. Hell, even Stiles was scared about that.

                “So, I can’t go to school tomorrow,” She said, disappointedly.

                “I mean, it would be best if you didn’t until you can control yourself, you’ll be very tired,” She slumped down and let out an enormous sigh. Stiles then left the room, Derek following.

                “Is the basement ready?” Stiles asked as he shuffled down the stairs.

                “Nearly, but we just need you to do something,” The opened the basement door and went into the unfinished area, unlocking it with a key they hid in the vase that was on the in table. Inside, there was a bunch of chain and rope mounded places, as well as a rabbit in a cage for her to kill if it came necessary.

                “So, what’s so unfinished?”

                “Well, two things, first,” Derek handed Stiles a can of spray paint. “You need to put triskelles up on all of the walls, the symbol helps with the transformation. Secondly, you have to line the whole room in mountain ash and seal it once me and her are inside. You can stay if you want to, but I suggest that you lock the door, and I’ll call you if I need anything,” Stiles nodded in understanding. He took the spray paint and painted triskelles all over the walls until there was at least three on each wall. When he felt pleased with himself, he gave the can back to Derek and headed upstairs, where he saw Scott lounged on the couch watching Netflix.

                “Are you staying tonight?”

                “I might, why?”

                “Well, it’s going to be Mykah’s first full moon, so if you would like to assist, don’t be afraid to join,” Scott smiled.

                “Well, of course I’m staying then,” Stiles sighed in relief and plopped down on the couch next to Scott.

                                ~~~*~~~

                The thing about Mykah is that she always needs to keep occupied, so for her to be confined to her room to basically just sleep the day away wasn’t really her forte. They had tried everything to get her to sleep for even a couple of hours, but she refused to do so, so Derek and Stiles gave up. It slowly got closer to dark, and they were rushing Mykah to finish her food (funny, when she’s told to do something, she’s been doing the opposite. Stiles had to take credit for the stubbornness, that being completely his fault), and they got her downstairs. Downstairs, they had a small window towards the top of the wall that showed in a lot of moonlight.

                “What are you doing?” Mykah asked, as they sat her in a chair and started to wrap her up with chain.

                “We’re keeping you safe from yourself, remember the whole trust thing?” Stiles was kind of sliding on thin ice from anxiety. He was pretty sure he was reeking of it. He held her hand and her eyes started to flash gold before staying that color. He saw her teeth grow into fangs and her nails grow into claws. She was still so beautiful. She sunk her nails into Stiles’ skin, but he didn’t even fidget, just stared at her as she let out a roar. She then slid her nails all the way down Stiles’ wrist, leaving four deep claw marks in his skin. She smelled the blood and looked down at his wrist that he was now covering. She tilted her head down in shame.      

                “Daddy, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you,”

                “It’s okay Mykah, I promise, you couldn’t control it,” Stiles felt pain going through his arm and Scott immediately came over to inspect the wound.

                “It’s going to need stitches,” He said quietly as Mykah bounced her chair around, the chains rattling.

                “Okay, let’s go upstairs, but first,” They started to walk out of the room and Stiles sealed the wolves in the basement, and then locked the door behind him. Stiles sat on the counter in the kitchen as Scott carefully sewed it back. He felt every time the needle went into his skin, and that sent shivers up his spine (his fear of needles not fazed by the multiple hospitals stays). When Scott was done, he got a paper towel and wiped off the excess blood and wrapped it up. Stiles immediately went upstairs and changed into a long sleeved shirt, so when he went back downstairs, Mykah wouldn’t see it and get angry with herself and hurt herself. He went back downstairs to check to see how everything was going, and he saw that Mykah now had the rabbit in her mouth and was tearing the legs off of the poor creature. He sighed and shut the door, calling it a night and going to bed.

                                ~~*~~~

                When Stiles woke up the next morning, he slowly made his way downstairs to unlock the door and break the barrier of mountain ash. Once he did so, he watched as his husband carefully walked out, their daughter in his arms looking completely beat.

                “Around three am she finally was able to control herself. I mean, it wasn’t the most controlled, but that’s when she was able to shift herself back on her own, or without Scott roaring at her hard enough,” Derek had blood in his hair and looked extremely beat. Stiles then got himself ready as Derek put Mykah to bed, and then himself, and headed to work. He looked at his arm while he drove his Jeep, and felt where the stitches were. If someone were to ask Stiles what parenting was like ten years ago, he wouldn’t’ve suspected it would be like this. This, this is fucking mad, and he knows it, but at the same time he doesn’t know how he could live without a little mad. Non-normal things were what gave him a husband and a daughter, and also a life. Stiles lost his train of thought when his phone rang.

                “Hello?”

                “Hey,” He recognized Derek’s voice. “Forgot to tell you to have a good day, and I love you,”

                “I love you too,”

                “And also that we have a PTA meeting tonight, so if you want to come, that would be awesome. And maybe after the meeting, we could go out for dinner, and have a romantic night that isn’t filled with your daughter tearing up a rabbit and then eating it. We could have Scott take her,”

                “That sounds like an amazing plan, ask Scott, if all else, we can see if we can drop her by Melissa’s or my dad’s. I’m pretty sure my dad doesn’t have night shift tonight,”  
                “Awesome! Well, I’ll talk to you later honey,”

                “Ditto,” Stiles hung up the phone. As he drove to work, he started to develop this deep ache in his chest. He thought he might have just slept wrong or something, and did his best to ignore it. He ended up getting to work, grabbing a coffee, and getting to his amazingly designed office a bit earlier than usual. He took a swig at his coffee and then sat in the beanbag chair on the other side of his office with his tablet and started to draw up the new designs that his boss asked for, as well as making notes on how they could improve the software for Google Drive. His intern came in a couple of minutes later, sitting in one of the plain plastic chairs in the office and looking at Stiles.

                “Do you need anything Mary?”

                “Well, I mean, I finished my work, and I don’t really have anything else to do right now,” She sipped from her own coffee cup and put it on Stiles’ desk.

                “Well, I truthfully don’t have any more work for you to do right now, so just, go do something,” She went over to Stiles and started playfully batting his arm.

                “I know something I wanna do right now,” She then crept her hands towards Stiles’ zipper and started to unzip it.

                “Mary, no stop,” He said sternly pushing her hands away and pulling his knees up.

                “Oh come on, stop playing hard to get,” She then took one motion and put her hands down his pants.

                “Mary stop!!!” Stiles screamed. He kicked her in the face and she winced, crawling back over to the other side of the office. “I don’t think you understand, just because I am 29 years old doesn’t mean that you have free reign of this,” He motioned at his body. “Okay? I am above you in every way imaginable right now, your ticket to getting an actual paid job here at one of the nicest places to work at in the world, and you’re trying to fool around with your boss? Oh honey, that’s not going to get you anywhere in this business, okay? And for the record, I am happily married and have been for 10 years, I have a daughter who is smart and kind and just all out amazing in every way, and I am not looking to have my intern go around trying to blow me, okay? Because to be honest, I can just ask my husband to do that for me,”

                “You’re-.”

                “Yes, I am gay. Now please leave my office right now, I swear to God. I can’t deal with this right now! Stiles screamed and she went running out in terror. Stiles angrily got his cordless phone from his desk and called the intern coordinator.

                “Yeah, this is Stiles, yeah, Stiles Hale, um I’d like to report sexual harassment from one of your interns? Mary Beth Anderson yes,” Stiles continued the conversation and by the looks of it, Mary was going to be fired. Stiles felt kind of bad, but at the same time, you don’t try to take sexual advances with your boss just because you might not have all of the qualifications for a job and you want them to “pull a few strings”. That doesn’t fly in Stiles’ book. After he called them, he then called Derek.

                “Derek,” Stiles said, nearly crying. “I want to tell you this because if you smelled her on me, I didn’t think you would forgive me or understand what happened,” Stiles started with. He ended up crying his eyes out and Derek assured him that it was okay, and that he had the same things happen to him. Stiles apologized a lot, Derek told him he was glad he told him, and everything was back to normal. Well, kind of. Mary kept popping out of every corner that Stiles turned, and it was pissing him off. Stiles got all of his work done really early and asked his boss if he could go home, due to the fact that he wasn’t feeling good, and left. He took his tablet with him to work on a few more things at home, but he just had to leave. He made it home in pretty good time and walked in through the garage, throwing his coat down on the floor.

                “You’re home early,” Derek commented from his laptop.

                “I can’t stand people. I had to leave, I’m not going to sit there while some broad tries to put her hands down my pants, homie don’t roll like that,” Derek sniffed the air and gave Stiles a strange look.

                “You smell different,”  
                “Well, if I smell like a bitch dog in heat, then-.”

                “No, no I don’t smell that, it’s different,” Derek’s face then turned from confusion to sudden realization. Stiles knew the face.

                “What is it?”

                “Um, it’s nothing, just, I smelled the coffee that you spilled on your shirt,” Stiles knew he was lying, but Stiles wasn’t in the mood to play 20 questions and push it out of him. Stiles looked down at his shirt and saw the stain.

                “Dammit! What a day. I’m going to bed,” He stomped up the stairs and slammed the door, stripping to just boxers and taking a shower, trying to scrub all of the bitch stink off of him. After that, he crawled into bed and wrapped himself in the flannel sheet. He heard Derek come in and snuggle up next to him. Stiles let Derek be the big spoon and leaned into him. “I’m not trying to sound like an asshole, but can we postpone the romantic night tonight and reschedule?”  
                “I don’t care, how about Friday?”

                “Okay, that sounds fine with me,” Stiles sunk into the bed and finally dozed off after a while, feeling Derek’s warm chest pressed up against his back.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles didn’t wake up until about 9 at night. He hadn’t been this tired since…

                He dragged himself out of bed and went downstairs. He made himself a box of macaroni and cheese and sat at the bar alone. He figured Derek went to the PTA meeting and brought Mykah with him and it probably hadn’t ended yet. Stiles ate his macaroni out of the pan (which he hadn’t done since high school) and turned on the CD player in the kitchen, which had a [Panic! At the Disco album](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODIT6vBCjpI&list=PL334IfgSs6QBNv-FHIj7VYRdK2_HB4d6A). He hummed along to [Nicotine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkBxcmxWKAA) while he ate his macaroni. He heard the garage door open and heard Mykah come bounding in the house.

                “Daddy! You’re awake!” She hugged him and he mumbled an “I love you” through a mouth of macaroni. She buried her face in his shirt and looked up at him.              

                “Why do you smell different?” Stiles gave her a confused look. He had scrubbed himself clean of Mary hours before, so it couldn’t’ve been that.

                “What does it smell like?”

                “I don’t know, but, it’s different,” She wriggled her nose. Stiles looked at Derek, who was carrying in groceries. He sat the bags down and pretended to not notice Stiles staring at him intensely.

                “Derek?”

                “Yes hon?” Stiles sighed and took his glasses off, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

                “Just, never mind,” He took the pan off of the counter and put it in the sink to soak. “How was the PTA meeting?”

                “It was fine. They didn’t talk about a lot, except that they needed cookies for the bake sale at the school carnival next month, and I hope you don’t mind I signed you up,” Stiles didn’t mind in the least. He loved to bake, and the past couple of years he would make things and they always sold out first.

                “That’s fine. But it’s up to Mykah to decide what flavor the cookies should be this year,”

                “You should make some double fudge chocolate chip, some regular oatmeal, some peanut butter, and some sugar cookies. Those were the flavors that sold the most last year you know,” Stiles did know.

                “I could make some red velvet cake cookies too if you want,” Mykah debated. “Hmm, that’s a lot of cookies, let’s just stick with the ones we already use,” Stiles nodded and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. He took a sip and felt the beer warm his stomach. He remembered the feeling of warmth that he had when he drank after he was diagnosed, and how that alcohol just tasted so much better when he was upset and depressed. No wonder his dad was an alcoholic for a while, because sometimes it felt so good, but unlike his father, Stiles had control, and he knew that the feeling wouldn’t last forever, and he didn’t want it to either.

                “I have a meeting with the publisher tomorrow, so I might not be home tomorrow night, and Wednesday night we’re taking Mykah to her first lacrosse practice, and while she’s there, Scott and Kira invited us to go to trivia night at Addison’s,” Addison’s was the local bar and grill that had fun nights for couples.

                “Okay, well, I can take this one to school tomorrow and pick her up if needed, and did we enroll Mykah in lacrosse?”  
                “Yeah, at the beginning of the summer,” Stiles shook his head.

                “Sorry, just a lot’s on my mind, I feel like I knew that,” He rubbed his forehead and threw his beer bottle away. He then went up to bed and crawled back in, feeling better that he was going to get more sleep. Stiles hadn’t been this tired in a while, and it was probably due to staying up later than usual to make sure his daughter was going to be okay. Stiles looked at his arm, where he had taken the dressing off, and saw that it was still not looking the best, and it was starting to bruise, but Stiles had healed from worse. Derek came in and cuddled next to Stiles.

                “Mykah’s listening to headphone in her room while she reads a book, do you wanna have sex?” Stiles was surprised he was so forward about that, and he smiled and nodded. He took his glasses off and then slipped his clothes off. Derek pulled out some lube and started to rub it on his hands before rubbing it on himself. Stiles positioned himself, ready for Derek, and Derek put one finger in, then two. Stiles was melting like jelly. It had been a while since they had sex. Derek then pressed his tip to Stiles and slid himself inside, slowly, and Derek groaned loudly. He got himself all the way in and started rocking him back and forth.

                “Derek,” Stiles fathomed. “Derek, I’m gonna come, Derek,” Stiles pleaded. Derek sped up and finally, Stiles spewed all over the bedspread. Derek pulled out and started kissing Stiles’ face intensely, and then started to bite Stiles’ collar bone, and Stiles let out a long groan. Stiles then pushed Derek on his back and started licking his abs, starting a hickey around his nipple, and trailed kisses up his chest to his cheeks, and then to his lips. They made out for a while, and they finally took a break.

                “Shower?” Stiles asked. Derek nodded. It was kind of killing Stiles that they needed to be quiet, because he knew that they would have done so much more tonight. They walked into the shower, and Stiles was glad that it was huge. The shower could easily fit four people comfortably, so they could both shower. But instead of showering immediately, they just had intimate shower sex, Stiles even giving Derek a blowjob and return, getting a handy from Derek. Actually, it was a pretty good night. They scrubbed each other clean until they didn’t smell like sexual desire, and just the normal amount of desire, they went back to bed, stripping the sheets and comforter and replacing them with clean ones. They then crawled into bed, turning nose-to-nose with each other and smiling.

                “Goodnight handsome,” Derek cooed, kissing his forehead.

                “Goodnight. I love you,”

                “I love you more,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Derek was already up and out of the house before Stiles even woke up, which was strange, and made Stiles feel out of tempo. He went and woke up Mykah and made himself a cup of coffee. So that’s what it’s like to not have to be the first one to heat up the water in the Keurig. He then put on clean clothes, which was just a plaid shirt with a heather gray V-neck under it. He got out a couple of boxes of cereal for Mykah to choose as he threw his glasses on and turned on the TV in the kitchen so he could watch the news. Mykah came down, fully clothed but definitely not ready for school, considering her hair wasn’t brushed and was all over the place. Mykah picked up the box of honey nut cheerios and poured herself a bowl, adding milk. Stiles did feel a little sorry that it wasn’t some exquisite breakfast like Derek made her, but they literally didn’t have the time, because Stiles needed to be at work on time, and hopefully before his fucking nuts intern so maybe he could lock her out if she showed up today. Stiles sipped at his coffee and put the cereal and milk away, and went into the study where he grabbed his laptop and his tablet from the desk where he charged them and headed towards the car. He decided to take the Camaro, considering the Jeep probably wasn’t the safest car except in the summer when they would go to the beach, but even then it wasn’t the safest, just the most convenient. Mykah returned from her room with a headband in her hair and her backpack.

                “Oh crap, was I supposed to pack you a lunch?” Mykah thought about it.

                “I think so,”  
                “Crap, well, here’s like ten bucks to put in your lunch account, sorry,”  
                “It’s okay, it’s supposed to be pasta day today anyway, and I like the school’s pasta,” Stiles smiled and pulled out his wallet, handing her a ten.

                “Don’t lose that please, or lunch won’t be fun today,” She nodded and got in the car. Stiles drove her to school and dropped her off at the front door.

                “Have a good day honey, I love you,” Stiles blew a kiss to her and she caught it.

                “I love you too!” She shut the door and met up with some of her friends and went inside the school. He then headed to work, getting there with a couple minutes to spare, so he could grab a coffee and a croissant before heading up to his office. He got to his office to see that no one was there. He then checked under all of the furniture and in the closet before locking the door, which was glass, and sucked because people could see you through it. Stiles pulled the drapes down so no one could look in and pulled up the email with his list of work for the day and started on it. He heard someone knock on the door of his office, and saw that it was Charlie, in which he was office neighbors with. He unlocked the door with the button on his desk and he sat on one of the large ten foot diameter beanbags.

                “Lock the door behind you,” He did and then jumped in one of the other bean bags. God they were such children.

                “What’s with the drawn blinds?” Charlie asked as Stiles turned on one of his colored bulb lamps.

                “Trying to hide from my possibly insane intern. I called her in for sexual harassment yesterday and she kept stalking me, so I finally had to leave.

                “Oh, you didn’t hear? They had footage of her sexually harassing you from one of the hall cams and when they searched her intern locker it was full of weed, so they arrested her and escorted her off the premises,”

                “So you knew?”  
                “Yeah, I thought you knew too,”  
                “No, was home, also trying to deal with my sick child,” Stiles commented. Mykah wasn’t really sick, but still tired and grouchy from the night before.

                “So, are you going to keep the blinds closed and the lights off?”

                “We totally should. I mean, you only came in here to collaborate with me, correct?”  
                “Well, we are on the same project, so I thought might as well get some collaboration time on this, and we could make snacks and watch movies while we do our work,”

                “What are we doing exactly?”

                “Just some designing for some new ads on the Google Play store,”  
                “Awesome, drawing!” Stiles spent the rest of his day calling the kitchen for food, working on ads with Charlie, and watching all of the Hangover movies.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles arrived to Mykah’s school early and grabbed a parking. He then walked inside the gymnasium with the multiple other parents that were waiting for the flood of children. Carol saw Stiles and made a disgusted face. He really wasn’t’ in the mood for this bullshit.

                “Carol? Can we talk?”  
                “What is there to talk about?”

                “Okay, so I realize that you’re not a person who is okay with homosexuals, I mean, that was loud and clear once you dragged your daughter out of my house and then screamed at her. We could hear you, and the comments that you said hurt my daughter. I honestly don’t care about how you choose to raise your child, nor do I care, but at the same time, I just want to ask what you think is so wrong with us?” Carol was shocked that Stiles had even said anything to her.

                “I’m sorry, I’m just not accepting of gays,”

                “And that’s okay, I guess, I mean, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but the name you called me and my husband was not kind, and even though we choose to not live the lifestyle that you would prefer, we also aren’t calling you a conservative, right winged bible thumper, and I know that as a parent I won’t be able to save my child from all of the evil in the world, but at the same time, I thought that living in the 21st century that my daughter wouldn’t hear the word ‘fag’ used in her life, but I guess I was wrong. So, can we at least make a pact to not be awful to each other for our daughter’s sake, and to not stop them from seeing each other?” She debated for a while before answering him.

                “I guess so. It’s going to take me a while to… adjust,”  
                “And that’s fine. Maybe we could invite you for coffee at our house some time and we could just talk like civilized people, would that be okay?”

                “Well we should try it,” She said, actually smiling for the first time that Stiles had ever seen her.

                “Thank you, and I hope you have a good night,” Stiles nodded towards her and extended his hand out for a handshake. She shook it and they turned back to face the door, waiting for the kids to come. Finally, like a school of fish, the kids came swimming in, in every single area of the school, and soon Stiles found Mykah grabbing his hand and dragging him out the doorway. They went to the Camaro and Mykah pulled out one of the books that Derek had gotten her, which was The Fault in Our Stars. Stiles saw the title and then started to have a slight panic attack. He hadn’t touched that book, let alone looked at that book in years, because it brought back the awful memories of it being read to him as he waited for chemotherapy to be over, or when he sat in the hospital because he was sick. Stiles took the bookmark from Mykah’s hand and closed the book, his chest tightening.

                “Daddy?” She asked, looking at him. He sat his head on the steering wheel and Mykah took Stiles’ cellphone. She put it on speakerphone and Stiles heard Derek’s voice through his intense heart pounding and wheezing for breath.

                “Hello?”

                “Dad? Daddy’s in the car, and he’s breathing heavily, and his heart is beating really fast and it’s like he can’t breathe, what’s wrong?” Stiles tried to answer, but his throat was closed, and his chest was tight.

                “Mykah, you need to calm him down, okay? He’s having a major panic attack?” Stiles wouldn’t call it major, he’s had a few that were much worse.

                “Okay, but you’re going to need to help me dad,” Mykah rubbed Stiles’ shoulder. “Daddy? Daddy you’re okay, it’s just your daughter, and I love you, and I appreciate you and you’re better than this, there’s nothing to panic about,”

                “Stiles honey? You’re okay. Do you want me to sing to you?” Stiles wheezed and nodded.

                “He says yes,” Then, Derek started to sing. He started singing Viva la Vida and Stiles started to calm down. He was crying now, and hugging Mykah a lot. “He’s okay now dad, thank you,” Mykah hung up and hugged Stiles.

                “Daddy? Why did you have a panic attack?” Stiles glanced at the book that was sticking out of her bag and sighed. He started backing out of his parking spot and heading home.

                “Well, you see that book you’re reading? Your dad used to read that to me when I was in the hospital. I don’t know why I chose that book, considering it’s a cancer book, and I was in the hospital for just that, so yeah, not the best call on my part, but anyway, I saw that book, and I just had kind of an awful flashback, and then I imagined if something like that happened now, and I couldn’t do it,” Mykah gave Stiles this look, and it was a look that you couldn’t really describe, but one that you don’t think that your nine year old daughter should ever wear.

                “Daddy, if anything ever happens, I want you to know that I love you,” Stiles nearly melted at that sentence.

                “Thank you princess. Sometimes it sucks to be on team human, but I wouldn’t be a very good werewolf, especially if I start showing more symptoms of dementia, then I would just be a demented wolf walking around and getting lost in the wolf, and that’s not good at all,” Mykah nodded her head in understanding.

                “I know, and I think you’re better at being a human,”

                “I know,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles made dinner for him and Mykah, he made sure she was tucked into her bed and that all of her homework was done before going to bed himself, to an empty bed. It killed him, knowing that no one was there to cuddle next to him. Around one am, he felt the bed dip and Derek slip in next to him, Derek reeking of a bar, and Stiles rolled over.

                “Where have you been?”

                “The publisher and I and a couple of other authors went out for drinks after the meeting, I’m sorry, I know it’s late, but I kind of got caught up in everything, but tomorrow is going to be amazing. We’ll drop Mykah at lacrosse, and then we’ll go over to trivia night with Scott and Kira, and I’m sorry,”

                “No, no it’s okay babe, we’re good, don’t worry, I’m just glad nothing happened, you had me nervous there,”

                “Sorry, I probably should have texted you, but I will next time. Sorry,”

                “Don’t talk, just cuddle,” Derek slipped his shirt off and then his jeans before snuggling as close to Stiles as he could.

                                ~~~*~~~

                The next day, Stiles managed to search around in the attic just before Mykah left for lacrosse and pull out his old stick. It was a really nice one that had name brand everything on it and still looked like new, considering it was his birthday present before he got diagnosed and had planned to play the season with it. Mykah liked it a lot and was dressed up in a pair of athletic shorts and an old t-shirt. Stiles felt like he was looking into a female mirror of when he started lacrosse, and was glad that she was following in his footsteps. They got in the car, Mykah dragging a water bottle with her.

                “I’m excited,”

                “I’m glad you’re excited, lacrosse is awesome,” Stiles shook his fist in the air and Derek pulled out of the garage. “You know, I loved lacrosse, and I was co-captain my senior year at Beacon Hills,” She nodded, picking at the lacing on the stick.

                “This stick looks practically brand new, you took really good care of it,”

                “I actually never got to use it,” Stiles gave a wary smile. “But I’m glad someone gets to use it,” Mykah made a kind of disappointed face, and Stiles turned back towards the front window. They drove in silence all the way to the lacrosse field and walked with Mykah up to the register table, got her all set up, and promised to be back by nine. They then drove over to Addison’s and met Scott and Kira for trivia night. As they walked in the building, Scott wriggled his nose and made a face. Derek looked like he was hiding something, and bit at his lip. “You smell something Scott, what is it?”

                “Um, it’s nothing,”

                “Scott, Derek and Mykah both made the same face one day and said that something smelled off on me, just tell me, I hate this secrecy bullshit that keeps happening like we’re in high school again, just tell me,”

                “I will, I promise, but let’s just finish the night, okay?” Stiles let out a long groan and a sigh and accepted that. It was better than Derek’s attempted nonchalant “nothing”. Everyone was given machines and they all logged onto them, their usernames showing up on one of the multiple flat screen TVs. Derek chose the username DHale (Wow, how boring), Scott chose Pack (wow, much creativity), Kira chose fire-life (a little more creative) and Stiles chose bookthief (so basically everyone was lacking really badly in creativity). As the night went on, it ended up that Derek won (cheating bastard), and even though there was never a prize involved with it, it was still fun to go have drinks and hot wings with friends one night a week, and the nice thing about Addison’s is that they always had trivia 24-7.

                “So, what were you going to tell me?” Stiles said as the server passed out the bills.

                “Oh, yeah, that, well, I mean, something is… off,” Scott finally said, taking a gulp from his glass of Budweiser seasonal. Stiles stared him down. “Okay, well, something is wrong, and I think you should make an appointment, and earlier appointment for a PET scan,” The color in Stiles’ face drained and he felt like he was going to throw up. “I mean, I could be wrong, but, I mean, the sooner the better, you know?” Stiles nodded slowly, looking at his untouched glass of beer. He grabbed it and downed the whole thing in less than thirty seconds, the fuzz from it slightly burning his throat. He wiped his mouth and looked back at Scott.

                “I just… I don’t know what to say,” Stiles shook his head and practically melted on the table. Derek grabbed his torso and hugged him.

                “Everything is gonna be okay,” Derek assured. “It will be okay, I- it will be okay,” Stiles knew he was going to say he promised, but with the unsureness in his voice, he knew that Derek didn’t know if it would be okay, and it was as much of a guessing game to him as it was to Stiles.

                “I can make some phone calls and try to get you in sometime tomorrow, if that’s okay,” Stiles was now running on auto pilot, not knowing what to say, to do, to live.

                “Um, yeah, that would be good I think, just, let me know,” Stiles was pretty eager to leave and pick up Mykah, but he wasn’t eager to tell her what might have happened, but it was going to happen eventually. He didn’t want to watch his daughter’s world crash below his feet in a mess of tears and cursing and broken memories, but he didn’t really have a choice, did he? I guess that’s the thing about being a parent, you have to do stuff that you don’t want to do because you think it’s going to be better for your child, but is it really? Is it really that simple? Stiles honestly didn’t know the answer, and he was as sure as hell that Derek was probably swimming with thoughts and confusion, trying to figure out what they were going to do. Stiles grabbed his arm where his tattoo was, the one that was supposed to mean strength, and he suddenly didn’t feel as strong. He wasn’t told that he was going to die, nor was he told that the cancer had even come back, but preparing himself for the worst was the only thing he could do to not break down.

                “Stiles?” Derek asked, pushing Stiles out of his trance. He didn’t even know that he had gotten in the car and that they were already halfway to lacrosse practice. “Are you…”

                “Okay? I don’t know. I’m just trying to process some things,” Stiles heard his phone chime and he looked to see that it was a message from Scott.

                **9:30 am at BHMH sound okay to you?** Stiles read the message and wanted to vomit.

                **Yeah, that’s fine.** Stiles didn’t hear back from Scott, probably because Scott didn’t know what to say. Stiles sure the hell didn’t. Neither did Derek. This was like the longest period of time that Stiles and Derek had been together in an area and not talked, other than sex, which was a different story.

                “So, are we going to tell Mykah?” Derek finally asked as they pulled in. Derek shut off the car and they just sat there for a couple of minutes.

                “We should tell her when we get home, take her out for ice cream or something to try to soften the blow,” Stiles slowly unbuckled himself from the seat and slipped out of the car. He took a deep breath and plastered a fake smile on, and tried to make himself forget about everything just 20 minutes before. They walked onto the field and found Mykah, smiling as big as ever. She came running up to them, all of her stuff in one hand and some forms in another.

                “I had so much fun! And they’re planning on putting me as a midfielder, I’m really good at it, and I like it a lot,”

                “That’s great sweetie,” Stiles patted her on the shoulder. Mykah had a whole bunch of fly-aways coming out of her ponytail, even with an elastic headband pinned in. She waved at a couple of the girls that walked by before they headed back to the car.

                “So, how about ice cream?” Derek said. Stiles was laughing on the inside on how cliché that Derek had said that, considering the conversation they had no more than five minutes prior to that.

                “Can we get frozen yogurt?”

                “Whatever you want sweetie,”

                The car ride to Orange Leaf was about the awkwardest car ride that Stiles had ever experienced. He thinks it was only awkward on his part, possibly Derek’s, but not on Mykah at all. She did her normal car ride stuff of looking outside the window and humming a song in in her head. They finally arrived and she galloped out of the car inside, grabbing a cup and starting to fill it up at the machines. She chose cake batter and fudge brownie flavoring, and topped it with a whole bunch of stuff that Stiles couldn’t even account for, but he saw some fruit, so he focused back on his own frozen yogurt. He got pomegranate and covered it in chocolate syrup and fruit, along with cookie dough, and Derek got banana and filled the rest with cherries and assorted candies. They got up to the cash register and Stiles pulled out his debit card like usual, and they found a seat. They all dug into their cups and didn’t say anything for a while, and Derek (fucking Derek all the time, like Jesus) said something.

                “So, daddy has something to tell you, don’t you Stiles,” Stiles stopped in mid scoop and sat his cup down.

                “Well, today Uncle Scott made a comment about how I smelled different,”

“You do smell different,” She confirmed.

                “Yeah, well, he suspects that I might have relapsed,” Mykah looked at him, with a blank expression. She knows exactly what that means.

                “Relapsed?”

                “Well, I mean, we’re not sure yet, so Uncle Scott had me scheduled for a PET scan tomorrow, and we’ll find out the news from that probably in a couple of weeks. I mean, I was scheduled for one in like four weeks, so yeah, that’s about it. Sorry to throw this on you all at once, but we didn’t want you to find out later and be mad at us for not telling you. I’m sorry,” She gave Stiles a look like she had just killed his puppy and regretted doing so.

                “Why are you apologizing to me? You can’t control this, and either way I wouldn’t’ve been mad. And you never know, you might not have it, and maybe it’s something else, but I love you, okay? And you’ll be okay, we’ll be okay,” Stiles had heard a lot of grown up things come from his daughter, but he think that she outdid herself this time. “Besides, you could always have Uncle Scott change you if something happened,” Stiles then kind of bit his bottom lip and Derek started talking.

                “That’s kind of the thing pumpkin. After some research, we realized we can’t change daddy. He has dementia, and even though it may not be bad now, it has a lot of potential to be awful, and if we change him, it won’t help that, nor all of the health problems that come with that, so even though it may lengthen his life a bit, it’s not going to be worth it. Can you think of a demented werewolf getting lost and sleepwalking, or more like sleep running over to the east coast? It would be better that way,” Mykah let out a long and irritated sigh.

                “I understand, just, it sucks,”  
                “I mean, this was always a possibility, and so was the dementia taking over, that’s why we had you nearly as soon as we got married, because we wanted you to know him,” She nodded, scooping the last glob of yogurt out of her cup before throwing it away.

                “Can we go home now?” Stiles nodded and they headed out, Stiles feeling immediately guilty for telling her.

                When they got home, Mykah went straight up to her room, leaving Derek and Stiles to talk. They went downstairs and sat on the couch, turning on the TV, but turning down the sound.

                “So, we need to talk some things through,” Stiles started, his hands shaking. “So, if it’s true, and I did relapse, what are we going to do?” Derek sat silently in thought and Stiles started to shake a little more.

                “I guess as much as we can do. Everything possible that we can do. I know treatment isn’t fun at all, but at the same time I suggest that you go that route again so we can hopefully have some more time, even though there isn’t an actual time limit yet, but you know what I mean,”

                “Well, I was actually thinking what you were thinking. More for Mykah’s sake, I don’t want to be narcissistic,”

                “Okay, is that all?”

                “Um, well, the rest I’m going to talk to you AND Mykah about later, if it comes to that, alright?”

                “Alright,” Stiles and Derek proceeded upstairs and went to their bedroom. Stiles heard this sound, this sound that he usually didn’t hear. Derek was in the shower, so he was pretty sure that he couldn’t hear it or didn’t notice it, but Stiles could hear it, and it sounded off. He went outside his bedroom and followed the noise into Mykah’s bedroom, where she was sitting on her bed and crying her eyes out.

                “Mykah honey, are you okay?” She shook her head no and Stiles came and sat next to her, wrapping his arms around her.

                “Honey, everything’s gonna be okay, alright?” Stiles took his thumb and pulled the tears from her face and she looked up from her hair that was pushed in front of her face.

                “But what if it’s not?”

                “Then we’ll figure it out, okay? Whatever happens, happens, and it was God’s will for such to happen, and we’re going to have to accept that,” She pushed her hair out of her face and threw her fists down.

                “Why you?” She practically yelled. “It’s not fair,” Stiles chucked a little bit.

                “That’s exactly what I said, and what Scott said the first time around. And again, we aren’t certain about it, okay? It could be just be something else, you never know, alright?” She still seemed pretty sad. She was more filled with negative emotion than Stiles had ever seen.

                “Alright,” She finally accepted, and Stiles then held her head in his arms and gave her shoulders a squeeze before kissing her on the forehead.

                “I love you,”  
                “I love you more?” Stiles was now getting slightly emotional.

                “Oh really? How much?”

                “300 times to the moon and back,”  
                “What if I told you that affection couldn’t be physically measured?”

                “I would say that theoretically you would be correct, but it still doesn’t mean I love you any less,” She hugged Stiles as hard as she could, Stiles thinking he could feel his ribs breaking under her arms (the greatness of having werewolf children) and he hugged her as hard as he could back.

                “Now you need to go to bed, okay? You have a long day of school tomorrow,” She nodded her head and Stiles turned off her lamp, leaving the room dark. Stiles went back to his and Derek’s room to see that Derek had just gotten out of the shower, his hair damp and his body smelling of the cucumber shower gel that he loved so much. He had a towel wrapped loosely around his waist.

                “Do you want me to drive you over to the hospital tomorrow or are you okay?”

                “I can go by myself, and besides, Melissa and Scott will be there if I need anything, it’s not that big of a deal,” Derek gave Stiles the “yeah, it’s a huge fucking deal” face and Stiles didn’t back down with his “Derek, just shut the fuck up with the faces” face. Honestly, Stiles and Derek could just communicate with faces, so when they never wanted to say anything out loud, they could just start making faces to talk to each other.

                “Okay, whatever you want,” Derek said, slipping his towel off as he slipped on a pair of boxers. Stiles knew they were having a semi-important conversation, but all he could hear in his head was “ass, ass, ass, ass”

                “Okay, well, I’m going to head to bed,” Stiles yawned, stripped himself of his t-shirt and jeans, leaving him in just boxers. He put his glasses on his nightstand and plugged his phone in before getting himself semi-comfortable in his bed until Derek dipped the bed in with his weight and Stiles adjusted himself against him.

                “I love you,”

                “Love you more,”

                “Love you most,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles was not able to keep still. He woke up shaking, he wandered around the house for an hour still shaking, and then went downstairs, took his ADHD medication (even a little extra) and was still uncontrollably shaking. He got dressed, walked around, and tried to keep himself occupied from the explosion of anxiety bursting inside of him. He tapped his feet, played with his fingers, anything to keep his mind busy, and he didn’t really even realize he was doing it until Mykah came up to him and held his shaking hand that was holding a bottle of water. He didn’t even realize that there was a puddle of water below the bottle. He also saw that the cuts that Mykah had made earlier that week had finally scabbed over, so he picked at the stitches that Scott had put in until he pulled it all the way through. It gave him something to do. Derek and Mykah finally left the house for school, giving Stiles about fifteen minutes to stress out even more. He checked his phone to see that he had a message from Scott.

                **Hoping for the best** it read. Stiles shook his head and wanted to throw his phone in the trashcan. Hell, he wanted to throw his life in the fucking trash can, he couldn’t deal with this.

                Stiles finally got in the car and drove over there, grabbing his work stuff so he wouldn’t have to backtrack. He finally got over to Beacon Hills Memorial and waited in the waiting room. Out of the blue, he saw Melissa come and tap his shoulder.

                “Hey honey, are you okay?” Stiles nodded.

                “Yeah, I think so,”

                “Well, Scott told me, and I just want to say I love you,” Stiles smiled and gave Melissa a hug. They finally called his name and he went back, his stomach flipped in every which way and his forehead sweating buckets.

                The thing about PET scans is that the actual scan doesn’t take very long at all, but getting radiotracers put inside of you usually takes the longest. You have to remain completely still, with very little movement for up to almost two hours BEFORE you even get the scan done. Long story short, it’s an annoying pain in the ass that takes forever, and it is really stressful and makes you debate your life. So basically like an MRI, but a machine that checks the function of your insides and not just the physical appearance of them.

                When Stiles was finally done, he was immediately much less stressed out, but still shaking. Melissa caught him before he went out the door and slipped a water bottle in his hand.              

                “Drink plenty of water and you’ll feel better,” He nodded and headed back out to the car. He sat and just breathed, just calmed himself down. PET scans weren’t even that big of a deal anymore, considering he would have at least one a year, but that’s also when you’re expecting remission again because you have for the past ten years. Stiles finally called Derek, who he knew was probably at home now.

                “So how did it go?” Derek asked, very monotone.

                “It went good I guess, I mean, other than I was stressed the whole time, it took forever, and I am especially not excited to get those results in a couple of weeks,” He heard Derek let out a tired, worn sigh.

                “At least you got it. Knowing is half the battle,”

                “Isn’t that a catchphrase from like an STD commercial or something?”

                “I don’t pay attention to where I get things, but I mean, it applies here too,”

                “Yeah I guess. Well, I’m going back to work. They’re probably wondering why I’m taking off so much,”

                “You didn’t take off _that_ much. You usually never take off,”  
                “Yeah, but that’s more than usual. Once is overdoing it for Stiles Stilinski Hale. Just saying,” Stiles was starting to calm himself down, and he kind of forgot about why he was so stressed out. “So what’s your plan for the day?”

                “Oh, well I just need to get going on this book about fatherhood with another father and that’s about it,”

                “Well, I hope you have an amazing day, and hey,”

                “What?”

                “Don’t stress out too much,” He could practically hear Derek’s eye roll on the other line.

                “Okay, whatever. I love you!”

                “Love you too bye!” Stiles hung the phone up and drove to work, like he usually did. For some reason, he didn’t have any stress left in him, like he stressed all of the stress out of himself, and he was going to be okay. When he finally arrived at work, he went into his office and started working, a bit behind from not being there for four hours in the morning (considering the drive there, which was always strenuous, and waiting in the waiting room, the two and a half hour scan, yeah, he was going to have to work all weekend on his tablet at home to catch up, so let’s repeat. Pain in the ass) but he didn’t care too much. He started on his work, socialized with a couple of work friends, fucked off like usual, because it was in his nature, and surprisingly enough, finished his main project right before he left. So you could say it ended up being a good day afterwards, considering everything that had gone on, and still could go on, and for the first time all week, Stiles honestly didn’t give a shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKay, posted chapter two due to a high request for it! Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys! Finally finished chapter three! Actually I did a couple of days ago and just forgot to post it, sorry! But anyway, I just want to warn you of feels. Many, many, many feels. I'm sorry. Well, if you're reading this, you somehow got through the first story without too much emotional scarring (I hope) so, I think y'all can handle it, but then again I can't judge your level of emotional stability that I've probably caused to crash down to the ground. Well, anyway, enjoy!

**Derek:** Derek had been dreading this day since Stiles had gotten his fucking PET scan. The weird thing was that he was more stressed out about a stupid scan than Stiles, and it was his body, it was his fucking life on the line and he was acting like he didn’t care as much. That’s what annoyed Derek, because he knows that Stiles cares, probably more than anyone will ever be able to comprehend, but how he could just put it off for a while and focus on something else, Derek wasn’t good at that, nor was he good at patiently sitting at an oncologist’s desk and waiting because he was running twenty minutes late on giving them the news that they so desperately needed.

                “So, what should we do after this? Go out for lunch?” Stiles tried to change the conversation, which pissed Derek off.

“Stiles,”  
“Sorry, just trying to avoid the elephant in the room,”

                “The elephant in the room? If you haven’t noticed, this elephant is a little big to fit in this room, and Jesus Christ where is the fucking doctor? Literally thirty minutes late now, I think I might vomit,” Derek was forcing his claws into his fists, causing them to bleed a little bit. He grabbed a tissue from the desk and cleaned off his palms. He was starting to get angry now. He usually could control himself with Stiles, because admittedly Stiles made him weak (Scott, shut the hell up, okay? I admit it!), but seriously, the world was pissing him off right now, and Stiles was also participating in that.

                The doctor finally came in (Jesus Christ, how long does it take to be on time for an appointment?) and sat down in his leather chair. He picked up a file from the desk (why didn’t they notice that, they could have just looked at that thirty fucking minutes ago) and looked at the contents inside and sighed. He looked like he wanted to throw them back on the desk, but he carefully sat them down. The plaque on his desk said Dr. Hill, and Derek was annoyed by the fingerprints on it, and why he didn’t just wipe them off. Finally, Derek not able to stand the silence, grabbed the plaque and wiped it off with the hem of his shirt before putting it back on the desk.

                “Okay, well, I have the results from your latest PET scan, and I am sorry to inform you that, as you suspected, it’s back. The scan showed that you have a touch of osteosarcoma in your ribs,” Derek bit his bottom lip. He couldn’t imagine how Stiles felt. He looked over at him and his face looked shattered in sadness.

                “But, I took my medication every day, and even more, I took nearly every precaution that I could to prevent it from coming back,” Stiles pleaded, holding his head in his hands. “I did everything I was supposed to,”  
                “And we know that you did, but sometimes doing everything you can do doesn’t stop it. I’m sorry. At least you came in at a good time, it could have been much worse if you would have even waited for your next appointment,” Derek watched Stiles get up from his chair, breathing kind of heavily.

                “Can you give me a sec?” The doctor nodded and Derek turned back towards him, watching him tap his fingers on his desk as Derek heard the loudest and worst shriek that sounded like a twisted version of Stiles’ voice. He just shrieked for several seconds before Derek heard the door opened and watched Stiles out of the corner of his eye plop down on the chair. “Okay, please continue,” The oncologist looked kind of freaked out, but then finished.

                “I think that the best option right now is chemo, because it seemed like you reacted okay to that the last time,” Derek looked over at Stiles, who was now shaking. Derek grabbed his hand and intertwined his fingers in his.

                “Wh-what about my hair?” Stiles took his other hand and ran it through his hair.

                “The good news is that chemotherapy has progressed since the last time it was an issue for you, so it shouldn’t affect you hair,” Stiles didn’t change his stance. Derek could feel himself just breaking inside, like a tornado had hit his brain and jumbled him up.

                “Okay, it’s just, our daughter, she’s a little, she’s self-destructive in some way, just-.” The doctor cut Stiles off.

                “I understand, and that’s okay. But we should start treatment very soon. We want to put you in the hospital for the first couple of treatments, mostly for observation to make sure you’ll be okay, and we want to do this as soon as possible,” Stiles and Derek both nodded.

                “How soon is as soon as possible?” Derek asked, the grip on his hand from Stiles tightening.

                “Well, either tonight, tomorrow, or Friday. I understand there might be a couple of things you might need to take care of, but no later than Friday,” Stiles looked to Derek.

                “What would be best for us?” Stiles’ eyes were a bit watery, but his voice was as clear as a bell.

                “It’s whatever you prefer hon,” Stiles’ face was neutral and it took him a moment to respond.

                “I mean, it would probably be better tonight, right?” Stiles look at the doctor who gave a small nod before Stiles finished. “So, then let’s do it tonight,”

                “You’re making a wise choice Mr. Hale. We’re just going to admit you to Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital, let’s say around 5:30?” Derek was a little shocked about how early that was, but he also wanted the best outcome for his husband.

                “That-that’s okay,” Stiles stuttered, exhaling deeply. “I have a question. I know it might sound a little, you could say morbid, but I mean, how serious is… it? Like, how long to I have I guess would be more appropriate,” Stiles started to awkwardly play with his hands, which Derek would have found attractive at any other time but now.

                “Well, so far it doesn’t look that bad at all actually, again, you came in at a right time, so I can say very confidently that I wouldn’t necessarily give you a number of days,” Stiles gave a wary smile. Derek thanked the doctor, and so did Stiles before leaving his office. Once they got out to the parking lot, Stiles started to lean on Derek, and he just broke down.

                “Derek, Derek I’m sorry, I’m so sorry Derek, I just,” He wailed into Derek’s back and he tried to fight back the tears that were welling up in his eyes. “I took my medication every single day I promise Derek, I promise,”  
                “Shh, you’re okay Stiles, just calm down a little bit,” Stiles sniffled and took off his glasses, wiping his face on Derek’s shirt.

                “Derek, I don’t wanna die, I’m so scared Derek,” He was crying more now, and Derek then felt a tear drip down his face, feeling Stiles tighten his embrace.

                “Stiles, I will do everything I can, everything and anything possible for you. And the doctor didn’t give you a deadline, okay?” Derek’s voice was starting to quiver and Stiles finally released, wiping his face with his sleeve and putting his glasses back on his face, and he nodded.

                “Oh god, how are we going to tell Mykah? How are we going to explain that when she gets home her dad’s gonna head off to the hospital because he might be dying,”

                “Let’s just get home first, try to wait for the storm to blow over before we decide what we’re going to do,” Derek got in the car and watched Stiles, his every movement slow and delayed. Derek threw his hand to Stiles and grabbed his, kissing his face. “We’ll figure it out,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                When Stiles and Derek finally made it home, they had calmed down. Stiles started rushing around the house, packing everything he would need for his long hospital stay into a small bag. Derek had to make a couple of phone calls, one to Cora and another to Isaac to let them know what was happening. Cora was crying, a lot, and Isaac seemed confused, like he couldn’t process it, and Derek had suspected the reactions of both. Derek was done with his phone calls when Stiles came back downstairs, throwing his bag on the couch and getting a Snapple out of the fridge. He sat at the kitchen table and drank it, tossing the bottle back and forth between his hands before letting it fall on the ground and shatter into a million pieces. Derek got on the floor and swept the pieces into his hands before throwing them away.

                “So, what do you want to do?” Derek stood over Stiles, who looked lost, like he had zoned out and was too far in thought.

                “About what?”

                “About Mykah I guess…?”

                “Let’s go get her,”

                “Stiles, now? That’s fucking insane,”

                “Well, do you want to take her home and have her figure out that in an hour after she gets home her dad is going to be admitted to the hospital because he relapsed? I don’t really want to have that conversation!” Stiles practically screamed. He let his head hit the table in front of him and Derek came over and yanked his head up, mostly to see if he had hurt himself.

                “So, what? You’re giving up now? Even though you got bad news with a pretty good silver lining? It’s not like you have an expiration date, so please, get your head out of your ass from where you have planted it and act like a fucking adult! You knew this might happen, you knew that this was possible!” Derek screamed back. Stiles scooted his chair out and stomped up. He stood even to Derek, forehead to forehead.

                “Okay,” He said quietly. “Okay I understand,” Derek grabbed Stiles’ shoulders and then hugged him.

                “Do you want to go to the school now?” Stiles nodded. He sighed and they got back into the car and headed towards the school. Derek didn’t even really remember driving all the way there, too deep in thought about what was going to happen, but he zoned back into reality when he was unbuckling his seat belt and they were walking across the parking lot. Stiles and Derek didn’t talk to each other, not like they didn’t want to, but they just didn’t have anything to say. They went into the main office and stood behind the counter where an older lady with white curly hair was on the phone and typing away at her computer. It sounded like it would take a while, so they sat down.

                “So, I mean, what exactly are we going to tell her?” Stiles asked, tapping his toes.

                “Well, I’m not sure, I guess we’ll just tell her, no sugar coating at all. I mean, she’ll be pissed at us if we don’t, just saying,” Stiles sighed. The receptionist ended her phone call and Derek stood up.

                “May I help you?”  
                “Yeah, um, we’re here to pick up our daughter from school. There’s a family emergency,” The receptionist nodded and handed Derek a clipboard.

                “Just sign her out and she’ll be down in a second, what was the name again?”

                “It’s Mykah Hale, she’s in Ms. Spencer’s class I believe,” The receptionist picked up the phone and called the classroom. Derek signed her out and handed the clipboard back, mouthing a thank you. Momentarily, Mykah was down, with all of her stuff and ready to go.

                “Hey, why did you pick me up early?”

                “We’ll tell you in the car,” She gave a puzzled look and followed them out of the school. Derek took Mykah’s backpack and threw it in the trunk and got in the driver’s seat of the car to drive home. Stiles then started the news breaking. Derek just shook his head the whole time and focused on the road.

                “Well, I know you’re wondering why we took you out of school, because we never do that, and it’s not like you go to the doctor or anything, but, do you know how I had a doctor’s appointment today?” She nodded.      

                “Yeah, wasn’t it about your PET scan or something?” Stiles nodded.

                “Well, the results show that yeah, I do have a touch of osteosarcoma in my ribs,” Her face fell.

                “Cancer?”

                “Yeah, well, I guess it’s back,”  
                “You, you relapsed?” Stiles nodded and Mykah’s lip started to quiver. Then she threw her arms down on the seat. “It’s not fair,”

                “Yeah, I know, it’s not fair, none of this is fair,”

                “But why did you pull me out of school to tell me this?”

                “Well, they want to start treatment as soon as possible, meaning they’re admitting me to the hospital tonight,”

                “The hospital? Tonight?” Mykah looked surprised and like she was going to have an anxiety attack, a look of fear that Derek had never seen in his life. They pulled in the house and Mykah quickly got out of the car, her legs turning to jelly as she tripped and fell onto the concrete and sat there, crying. “Why??” She screeched, pounding the concrete and cracking it. Derek scooped his pup up and held her in his arms, rocking her back and forth.

                “Sweetie, everything will be okay? Just trust us, okay? And it’s only for a couple of days, and we wanted to tell you so you wouldn’t have to come home and have all of this dropped on you without a couple of hours to calm down, because even me and daddy needed a couple of hours to cool,” She started to wrap her arms around Derek’s neck as he tried not to start crying along with her. It was like everything flashed back to eighteen year old Stiles, who sat in his hospital bed, like when he was in there for nearly a month, throwing up everything but his memories and getting so thin he looked like a twig, and that’s when Derek realized how fragile he was. He didn’t want to watch him slowly die again, he didn’t want to watch his daughter take comfort in his arms because she didn’t know that she would have her dad in a couple of months. It was something no one could understand, one of those things that people tried to understand but just could never actually grasp the pull in your chest when you find out the bad news, the fear in your spouse’s eyes, or the emotional tension that was now put on everything. Sure it wasn’t a death sentence; yet. For right now it was okay. Not really good, not really bad, but neutral. It hadn’t been like that the first time around, and that’s probably why Derek was having such an emotional breakdown from it, because he was expecting the worse, which didn’t happen. But that also left his brain to swim about all of the bad things that could go wrong, and that’s where he was like Stiles. He knew Stiles thought about the same things, you could just watch his faraway look as he for once stayed still and stared off into space, biting his bottom lip and clenching his fists.

                Stiles. Oh Stiles. Derek felt a little selfish about thinking how this was going to affect him, and how it was going to kill him inside, but he never actually considered that it might actually _kill_ Stiles. That’s all that Derek used to think about, but after they got hitched, had a kid, and practically became the same mind, things change. Derek didn’t know if he could raise Mykah on his own, hell, he didn’t know if he could even stay in the same house if something happened, it was all a matter of what-if, and Derek didn’t want to play right now, but life was kind of forcing him to.

                Mykah finally released and went over to Stiles, hesitating before grabbing onto him for dear life.

                “Daddy, I love you,” Derek walked over and wiped the single tear that fell down Stiles’ face and hugged him too. They stood there, in the yard and hugged for several minutes, literally every single one of them in tears before they went in the house. They got their composure together, and Stiles left to go outside.

                “I have to make some phone calls to work, I’ll be out on the patio if you need me,” Derek nodded and tried to find Mykah. He heard movement downstairs, so he went in the basement and saw her in the closet, pulling out scrapbooks and photo albums and putting them on her lap on the downstairs sofa. She flipped through the ones of Stiles as a teenager, with Scott and that damn Jeep that brought surprise to everyone that it still ran. There were pictures of Stiles playing lacrosse, riding his mini bike at the track, and camping. By this point, Derek came and sat next to her. She flipped the page and Stiles saw a picture of Derek cuddled next to Stiles on the couch, both of them fast asleep. The Sheriff must have taken the picture one night after a late shift. It kind of surprised him because the Sheriff was always pretty broody about his boy, especially when it came to Derek Hale. There were a few random shots before the pictures started to go downhill. First, it was a picture of Derek cutting Stiles’ hair, buzz cutting it to be exact, but Derek didn’t even realize that the Sheriff took pictures of that, or that he was even there. Nice paying attention skills Derek. Then, there were shots of Stiles in the hospital, looking deathly thin as Derek held his hand like he usually did, and that’s when Derek had to shut the book. Mykah looked up at him, her eyes glowing. She understood. She sat the book to the side.

                “Is daddy going to look like that?”

                “He might,” Derek regretted answering. She gave a small nod and put the photo album in the box with the others.

                “Do you have any photo albums of when you were a kid?” Derek shook his head. “Why not?”

                “They all burned in the fire,” The fire. They had told her about it. They told her when she asked why she didn’t have any grandparents on Derek’s side. They left out that the hunters did it, they didn’t want her to constantly live in a world of fear.

                “The hunters started the fire, didn’t they?” Derek nodded his head. “I want to know more, but not right now. If you need me, I’ll be in my room,” She bounded up the stairs with less of a spring in her step and Derek could feel another train about to hit right where his heart was. So this was what it was like to be a dad. It kind of sucked. Derek went back upstairs and could hear the conversation that Stiles was having over the phone.

                “No, no they didn’t say a time period. No, don’t hesitate to send me projects, I’ll have all of my stuff at the hospital and I can start on it. Don’t worry about it, I’ve done this before. Okay, thanks, bye,” Stiles hung up the phone and sighed.

                “Well, it took a lot of convincing, but they’re still going to give me a few things to do, thank God, I can’t just sit there doing nothing,” He shrugged his shoulders. “By the way, that reminds me, I need my sketchbook. I’ll grab it before we head out. Not really a rush now, right?” Derek shrugged his shoulders.

                “Have you called your dad yet?”

                “Um, no, I was kind of hoping Scott or Melissa would break the news to him. The good news here is that since Scott suspected it before the PET scan, he’s not going to have a conniption like last time. Remember that? There was a lot of crying,” Derek nodded. He had that memory engraved in his brain.

                “I also don’t know if I can call him today. Or soon at all, because then he’s going to flip out and it won’t be good. Should we just try to keep it from him?”

                “That’s just going to make him mad,”

                “But think about it, just wait until I’m out of the hospital, tell him about it and how I’ve already had a couple treatments, and everything will be fine,”

                “Stiles,”  
                “Fine. I’ll call him. Just, all of my calls today are depressing, and why can’t I have just one happy phone call? Like shit, I don’t think that’s too much to ask,” Derek grinned and shook his head. So Stiles had gotten into the swing of things a little bit. Derek knew that inside he was an emotional screaming wreck, but he got it under control on the outside, and that was going to help Mykah, and even though Stiles was going through something that was a pretty big deal right now, and possibly wagering at his life, their first thought would always be Mykah.

                                ~~~*~~~

                When they arrived to the hospital, Melissa, as always, was there to greet them. She got Stiles admitted to a room, and everything kind of began. Stiles changed into one of the hospital gowns and was getting situated in the small hospital bed. Mykah just watched in confusion and a bit of horror. She had never been in a hospital except for when they would see Scott or Melissa, but never this inside, to actually see a patient. Melissa slipped an IV into Stiles’ hand and Mykah cringed.

                “Isn’t that going to hurt him?” She asked Derek.

                “Sweetie, that’s there to help him,” Derek put his arm around her as she watched Melissa get Stiles hooked up to a couple more machines.

                “Someone will be in later to put in a PICC line,” Stiles nodded and Derek felt Mykah leave him and run to Stiles, hugging him. Stiles patted the empty part of the mattress beside him and Mykah hopped onto it.

                “So, is that was Mama Melissa does all the time?” Mykah asked in amazement.

                “All the time. Mama Melissa’s a nurse, and usually my nurse. And Uncle Scott is a kid’s doctor here, so if you weren’t a werewolf and you ever got hurt, you might have Uncle Scott,”

                “No offence daddy, but I would rather stay as far away from this place as possible,”

                “Me too pup,” Derek watched as Stiles nuzzled her hair and she took her hands and kept rubbing at Stiles, rubbing at his arms. “Whatcha doing?”

                “You don’t smell right. You smell like a hospital already and I don’t like it,” She continued to scent mark him as Derek pulled up a chair. “That’s better,” She seemed satisfied and curled back up into Stiles’ side.

                “What did your dad say when you called him?”

                “He seemed… off. He said he would visit in the morning, which is probably better for him, but it’s like he couldn’t accept that it had happened again,” Derek kissed Stiles’ forehead and gave him a hug.

                “I’m not trying to rush out of here, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night, so Mykah and I are going to head back home. If you need anything, just call, no matter how stupid you think it is, just call,” Stiles nodded, Derek knowing that Stiles wanted to anything but have him leave, and Derek would just stay there the whole time, just sleep in the room with Stiles, even in the same bed with Stiles, but he also couldn’t let Mykah live at that hospital like Stiles had done for so many years, he couldn’t do that to her.

                Once they got home, Mykah settled in her bed and Derek was sitting at the bar in the kitchen. He dialed Stiles’ cellphone and he picked up.

                “Oh, I see, can’t go even a night without talking to your husband, I get it,” Stiles mocked over the phone.

                “To be honest, I didn’t want to see them put that PICC line in,”

                “Thanks.” Stiles said slightly hostilely. “So why did my big Sourwolf call?”

                “You said that all of your phone calls today were depressing and you wanted just one happy one, so here it is,”

                “Oh, well okay, keep talking then,”

                “What do you want to talk about?”

                “Let’s talk about music,”

                “Alright,”  
                “Do you know what song I love?”

                “All of them?”

                “Yes, that is also a true statement, but [Nothing Left to Say by Imagine Dragons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4z7loNm_kw),”  
                “That song is so depressing,”

                “I don’t know why, but it makes me feel better. It’s like a nine minute song, and I really like it, and it makes everything feel better, especially the second part. What song do you love?”

                “Honestly, I don’t know, I guess [This is Gospel by Panic! At the Disco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGE381tbQa8),”

                “That’s a good song. You should sing it for me,”  
                “I should? Haha no,”

                “Derek, please,”              

                “Stiles, I don’t sing,”

                “You used to,”

                “Stiles,”  
                “Please,” Derek sighed.

                “This is gospel, for the fallen ones, locked away in permanent slumber, assembling their philosophies from pieces of broken memories. Gnashing teeth and criminal tongues conspire against the odds, but they haven’t seen the best of us yet, if you love me let me go! If you love me let me go! These words are knives and often leave scars, the fear of falling apart, truth be told I never was yours, the fear the fear of falling apart,”

                “See? That was awesome, and that’ll get me through the rest of the night, because I know I can’t have my beautiful husband here with me, and I know it’s not his choice,”

                “Thank you,”

                “I miss you. Like, the TV here sucks more than it did back then, and they didn’t want to feed me because they are going to do tests later tonight, make sure everything is going to go okay tomorrow. I guess the chemo is aggressive, and remember last time when I had aggressive chemo? It wasn’t good, and I’m definitely not looking forward to it,”  
                “Well, I’ll be there tomorrow morning, you have nothing to worry about, okay? I’ll bring Mykah by after school if you want me to, but if you’re really not feeling well, I might skip tomorrow,”

                “Okay, that’s fine with me. And do you know what I forgot?”

                “What is that?”

                “My pillow! How did I forget my pillow? I kind of need it, a lot. Do you mind brining it tomorrow?”

                “Not at all,”

                “Okay, okay thanks. Sorry, just a bit stressed out, a little excited. I don’t really wanna go to sleep because they’re just going to wake me up. It’s a conundrum,” Derek let Stiles ramble on the phone. It was usually for the better. “And also, can you bring the Xbox? I am bored out of my mind and I am really in the mood to play some Skyrim, I don’t even know why. Or some Assassin’s Creed,”

                “What about Call of Duty,”

                “Yeah, that too, but I overplayed that way too much as a teenager. I mostly want my Netflix back. Possibly rewatch Orange is the New Black and Breaking Bad. When I get out of here, do you know what I want? I want some hot wings, like the ones at Addison’s, actually, I wanna go to Addison’s, eat hot wings, and drink some beer, and that all sounds really good right now. When I get out, can we go there?” Derek honestly doesn’t know how they got on that conversation, but he wasn’t surprised they were jumping topics.

                “Whatever you want,”

                “And I forgot my colored pencils, can you bring those too?”

                “I guess,”

                “I’ll draw you a picture. It’s going to be beautiful and you’ll hang it on the fridge,”

                “How do you know that I’m going to hang it on the fridge?”

                “Because you’ll have to see my disappointed face when I come home, and I know how much you hate that face,” Derek really hates that face. Not only does it look fucking stupid for an adult to make, then he feels like he’s failed as a husband, and lastly there’s a lot of yelling, and it doesn’t go over well. So, Derek likes to avoid that look as much as possible.

                “Okay, I guess it’s going on the fridge,”

                “Damn right it’s going on the fridge,” He could hear Stiles chuckle. “And I want to have a discussion with you,”

                “About…?”  
                “How the hell did Mykah get her hands on a copy of The Fault in Our Stars?”

                “What do you mean?”

                “Remember, we threw my copy out because I wanted us to start our new lives with little reminders of what nearly ended mine? Remember that conversation?”  
                “Um, yeah. I went and bought her books and they just game me a whole bunch of them, and I didn’t really look at the covers, sorry,”

                “No, it’s okay,” Stiles sighed. “I mean, it just, I don’t want her reading that right now, I don’t want her to read that until later, maybe later, I’m not sure, just, no, don’t have her read that,” Derek knew why Stiles didn’t want her to read it, and he didn’t really want to argue with him, because if that was Derek, he wouldn’t want her to read it either. “You don’t have to throw it out, just, put it away, somewhere where she won’t find it, she’s my daughter, and I have to say that she is as defiant as me, and I’m going to apologize for that right now, but I want to talk to her before she continues that book,”

                “Okay, I guess that’s fair, I mean, that book was horribly sad,”

                “Yeah that’s the point, I don’t want to send my nine year old daughter, almost ten, into depression, because that was me when my mom died, and it sucked, it was hell, and I don’t want her to turn out like that,”

                “I can’t argue with that. And I don’t know if I could help her with that, you know how self-destructive she his, she would just die inside, and I don’t know how to handle that, okay? I’m not good at that, not like you,”

                “Well, I feel flattered, I really do. Well, I have to go now, I think I’m going somewhere, so I’ll see you tomorrow,”

                “Okay, I love you,”

                “I love you too,”

                “Have a good night,”

                “I’ll try,” Derek hung up the phone and went upstairs into Mykah’s room, finding the book on her nightstand as she listened to music and drew on the window seat. She took out one of her earbuds and watched as Derek took the book.

                “What are you doing with that?”

                “Trust me, you don’t want to read this now, it’s bad timing,”

                “What do you mean?”

                “Do you trust me?”

                “Yeah…?”  
                “Then trust me when I say this. Daddy wants to talk to you tomorrow, depending on how he’s feeling, and he wants to tell you some things, but how far are you into it?”

                “I don’t know, maybe a chapter or two. I’ve been busy with other stuff and haven’t gotten too far into it,”

                “Okay, well you have to understand that your dad, he watched your grandmother die. I mean, he watched her slowly wither away, and he was a mess, he suffered through a lot of depression and anxiety, and he doesn’t want you to be like that, he doesn’t want you to turn into him that way, and he doesn’t want you to act mindlessly,” Derek tucked the book underneath his arm. “You know he read this book, right?”

                “Yeah?”

                “Yeah, and when we moved here he suggested we throw it out so we could start out our new lives without the reminders of what happened. I actually read the book to him while he was in the hospital, and he cried a lot, and we had a lot of conversations. You were looking at those photo albums today, yeah?”

                “Yeah,”

                “Well, I’ll be right back,” Derek went downstairs and grabbed the whole box before going back up to her room. “So, with all of the pictures, I can tell you the stories behind most of them, well, the ones that I know of,” Derek started with the first book and flipped to the first picture of Scott and Stiles standing in front of Stiles’ Jeep, Stiles wearing that damn target shirt like he did in the woods next to Scott which had a caption that said “First Day of School”.

                “What year was this?”

                “Year, as in grade?” She nodded.

                “This was his sophomore year. I actually remember that day, that’s when daddy and Uncle Scott found Aunt Laura dead in the woods, and they thought I was the one to kill her,” Mykah raised her eyebrows in a confused way, the way that Stiles did.

                “You first met when he accused you for murder? That’s not awkward,” Mykah said sarcastically. Derek scoffed.

                “Yeah, why would I fall for a guy like that?”

                “Yeah, why would you?”

                “Well, I liked the way he challenged me. He knew that I was a monster, and he was still willing to take me on like it was nothing,” Derek was surprised that anyone had the balls to take him on, I mean, even people who didn’t know that he was a werewolf thought he was a scary looking person. “God, he was a dumbass sometimes, and he talked all the time, and I was confused how I could have fallen for a stupid, extroverted teenage boy, but then I figured it was because he was so smart, and he has this huge heart, and he cared about me, I could feel it. And then one day he was over at my house for a pack meeting and he admitted to me that he liked me, and he was embarrassed but I told him that I liked him too. Then he came over the next day and we started connecting, and that is that,” Mykah pointed to the next picture. It was of Stiles and Scott in their lacrosse stuff.

                “That was their first game when they both made first line. Uncle Scott made it sophomore year, and daddy made it the next year,”

                “So they were really into lacrosse too?”

                “Yup, but they didn’t want to force you into it, so they showed you what it was, and you obviously got interested, and yeah,” Mykah then leaned into Derek’s lap.

                “Do you think that daddy will be able to come to my first game?” Derek debated it. He checked his mental counter to figure out that it was next Wednesday.

                “Well, I bet he’ll do his best if he’s not out of the hospital by then, he’ll try to sneak out,”

                “I don’t want that,” She said surprised. “I want him to get better,”

                “Yeah, but you know your father, he’s, well, Stiles,”  
                “That’s a good point,” She pointed to the picture where Derek was shaving Stiles’ head.

                “Oh, yeah, that was daddy’s first round of chemo, it made his hair come out, and we shaved his head so he wouldn’t be pulling it out,”

                “Will that happen to him now?”

                “No, this is a little different,” She nodded and took a deep breath.

                “I don’t know if I want to flip the page,” She said, remembering when Derek had prevented her from going any further last time.

                “You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” She sighed and flipped the page. There were pictures of Stiles on his second round of chemo, his face thin, along with the rest of his body, and he looked translucent and sickly. There were also a couple of pictures from when Stiles was intubated and he could hear her gasp and quickly shut the book.

                “How did you deal with that?” She asked. “I’m serious,”

                “I mean, I just told myself whatever happens was meant to happen, but I wasn’t going to leave him, I mean, he was my mate, my one true desire, I couldn’t leave, whether I wanted to or not, and I didn’t want to,” She then hugged Derek.

                “Do you think that’s what Grandpa John thought when Grandma was dying?”

                “I don’t know, I really don’t,” Derek said. “Well, let’s get headed to bed, okay? We can see daddy tomorrow,” Derek got up and Mykah reached her arms up to him. He sighed and picked her up, taking her upstairs.

                “Can I sleep with you tonight?” Derek nodded and took her up to the bed. She found Stiles’ side of the bed and crawled into a ball. “His scent is so strong in here,” She fathomed, burying her face in his pillow.

                “Yeah, I know,” Derek got into the bed and felt Mykah crawl over to him and cuddle next to him. He put his arms around her and she wriggled closer to him.

                “I love you so much dad,”

                “I love you too baby,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Mykah refused to go to school the next day. Derek knew it was the protective wolf inside of her that was making her refuse to go to one of her favorite places, but she would not go. He ended up calling Stiles to convince her to go to school.

                “I’m fine,” He said, tiredly. “I promise, just tired. It was a long night, but you’ll see me when you get home from school, okay? And I’ll have a drawing to give you if you’re good,”

                “Really?”

                “Yes really, but you have to go to school, deal?”  
                “Deal!”

                “Okay, I love you,”  
                “I love you more,”  
                “Oh really? How much?”

                “300 times to the moon and back,”

                “What if I told you that affection couldn’t be physically measured?”  
                “I would tell you that it doesn’t affect how much I love you,” Mykah was smiling as Stiles finally hung up, and she was more excited to go to school. When Derek dropped her off, he headed over to Beacon Hills, wishing that he didn’t have to drive so far over to the hospital. He went straight up to Stiles’ room and saw that he was sitting cross-legged on the bed talking to Scott.

                “Yeah, I feel ya, but I mean, you get to hang out with kids all the time, don’t you like that?”  
                “Well, a lot of them are dying,”

                “Scott, shut up,” Derek slipped in and threw Stiles his pillow. “You brought it! Thank God, I got like no sleep last night, it was awful. I don’t think I would have gotten any sleep anyway, but it was worth a try, ya know?’ Derek nodded.

                “I also brought your Xbox so you can watch your Netflix,” Derek started to hook it up to the TV, and when he was done, he saw Scott had then taken a seat on the couch. “Scott, don’t you have small children to save?”  
                “I haven’t been paged yet,” Just then, Scott’s pager started going up. “Shit, spoke too soon, whoops. Well, I’ll be back later, or my mom will, see ya later buddy, have fun,”

                “Really? Have fun?”

                “Well, don’t… don’t have a bad time? Have as good of a day as you can?”

                “There we go, that one was better,” Scott clicked his tongue and left the room.

                “What time are they coming in?”

                “Probably in like five minutes or so. Not really looking forward to it,” Stiles sighed and curled his feet under him. “I can’t believe that she refused to go to school,”

                “She wanted to see you, mostly because she found the photo album with all of the pictures,” Stiles shook his head.

                “You have got to be fucking kidding me,”

                “Nope,”  
                “Awesome. Did you take the book away from her last night?”

                “Yeah, I did, and she wants to talk to you about that. She wants to talk to you about that,”

                “It’s pretty sad that the only way we can discipline our daughter is to take away her books. What parent does that?”

                “I guess we do,” Derek smiled. A nurse came in and started hooking up the chemo as Stiles sat with a smug look on his face. The nurse finished and said that she would be back in four hours.

                “So, I guess I’m not going anywhere for four hours, wanna play Xbox with me?”

                “I was never that good at it,”

                “C’mon, I know you brought the other controller for when Scott comes on his lunch break, just come on and play with me,” Derek sighed and grabbed the controllers, giving one to Stiles. He logged on and had Derek throw in Call of Duty (Stiles, I thought you were over this game) and they started a battle.

                “How do I shoot?”

                “The trigger buttons on the back, the ones that are all cool and stuff,”  
                “Oh, oh wow, this is fun, look, I killed someone!” Derek said happily. “I’ve never done that before!”

                “You never play videogames with me, you watch me play one person ones and just shout profanities at the TV when someone kills me and then at me for screwing up,”

                “It’s just because I love you,” Derek came and shot a whole bunch of people and the game ended, Derek getting last kill. “Stiles, Stiles I got last kill holy shit I got last kill!” Stiles shook his head.

                “My score was higher,”  
                “But I got last kill,” Derek was dancing in his chair and Stiles rolled his eyes.

                “Is this how it is when you watch me and Scott?”

                “Yeah,”  
                “Wow, I’m sorry I had to put you through all of this, I truly am. But, I’m gonna get started on that drawing I promised Mykah, before I’m not in the mood,” Stiles grabbed a sketch pencil and his sketch pad from the bed table and started to draw. He started to sketch a cliff with a wolf sitting on top of it.

                “What’s it going to be?”                  
                “I’m going to try to make a big wolf, and then like me sitting next to the big wolf, which is you by the way, and then a small wolf next to us at a full moon over the town, it’ll look awesome,” Stiles started to sketch some more and Derek just watched contently. He loved watching Stiles draw, his focused face and the amazing way he could flick his wrist when he would make another line, it was just amazing. Derek wished that he had hands that could draw as amazing as Stiles, or had such a mind to come up with amazing ideas for drawings or to see which color goes where, or even where to blend the graphite of the pencil into the paper. Derek would’ve given anything to have talent like that, and he knew it came from Stiles’ mother, same with the music, so when he did anything fine arts, it was a way that he could connect with his mother.

                “Do you miss her?” Derek asked, Stiles focused on drawing.

                “Yeah, she would have loved Mykah, she’s a lot like her you know,” Stiles continued to draw, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “I know that dad loves her because of that, speaking of which, we should have date night sometime, actually plan it, or maybe even a weekend, if that’s okay with you. We could spend some time down in Las Angeles, possibly hit Disney or something. We’ve already went with Mykah, but it could be like a three day weekend thing, does that sound okay? Because I know dad’s been wanting to go to some museums with Mykah, take her on a hike or something, and it would work out well for all of us, you know?”

                “That sounds awesome, let’s do it. How about when you get out of the hospital and feel up to it, we’re going to go,”  
                “Okay, it’s a deal,”

                “And do you know if you’re going to be able to go to Mykah’s first game next Wednesday?” Stiles’ face shifted.

                “I mean, I don’t know, when they’ll let me out, but I bet I can have Melissa and Scott pull a few strings if I am still here. I can’t miss my daughter’s first lacrosse game, that’s important,”

                “I can’t disagree with you there, but I don’t know if you’ll be able to sneak out,”

                “You’re also not Stiles Stilinski Hale, certified little shit,” Stiles smirked and finished the sketch, pulling out his colored pencils and starting to color it in.

                “Did you ever imagine this would happen again?”

                “Nope, didn’t really cross my mind to be honest,” Stiles kept eagerly working on his drawing, occasionally sharpening the colored pencils, and then continuing to shade in the yellow of the moon. “To be honest, I was more worried about raising a family, and my job that I never really thought about it, well, until lately, and it all kind of hit me when Mykah pulled out that book, and then all the scent stuff that you were talking about came flooding through and everything just crumbled for like five minutes, the five minutes when I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, could barely think. I didn’t know what to do, and I still don’t exactly know what I’m going to do, but I guess we’ll figure it out,”

                “That’s kind of our phrase now, isn’t it? We’ll figure it out. We said that about having kids, we said that about getting married, we even said that about when you almost failed one of your classes, and we’re saying that now,”

                “I guess, I mean, life is full of figuring shit out I guess,” Stiles finished the drawing and pushed it to the side. Derek could sense his sudden lethargy, knowing that the chemo was starting to hit him a little bit. Stiles yawed pulled the blanket to his waist before getting out his tablet and tapping away at it with a stylus.

                “So, what are you doing now?”

                “Some graphic drafts that I said I would work on. I wanted to do a little progress on it and talk with my coworkers that I’m working with it on. They told me not to worry about it, but I want to get it all done, even though I may be a little sidetracked with all this,” Stiles gestured to himself and continued to type really fast. Derek sighed and dug around in Stiles’ backpack for his iPod and speaker. He plugged them in and shuffled some songs, the first song to come on was Talking Heads by Echosmith, and Derek pulled out his laptop and started to type on his story, getting a chapter in or so. By the time Derek gave up on his creativeness for the day, it was around 12. A nurse came back to the room and disconnected the chemo from Stiles and he sat his tablet to the side. Stiles had a look on his face that Derek recognized and sent him running to the sink. He grabbed the bucket off of the counter and gave it to Stiles, and watched as Stiles threw up. Derek gave Stiles some paper towels to wipe his face and he sighed. “Nice,” Stiles commented, panting.

                “Here, I’m going to go get Melissa and have her get you some anti-nausea medicine. Are you okay?”

                “Well, my stomach is swimming, and so is my vision, and it’s like I’m having a Vietnam flashback, but other than that I’m fantastic,” Stiles said sarcastically, leaning over the small bucket, mindlessly spitting into it. Derek left the room and went to the nurse’s station, where he saw Melissa filling out papers on a chart.

                “Hey, Melissa, do you mind getting Stiles some anti-nausea medicine or something, he’s not having a good reaction to the chemo,” Derek heard Stiles throw up again and Melissa nodded.

                “I’ll be right in,” Derek nodded and went back in, Stiles throwing up again. He was now shaking, anticipating to throw up again and Derek felt bad for him. Derek rinsed out the bucket and wiped Stiles’ face again.

                “This sucks,” Stiles said. Derek took off Stiles’ glasses and put them on the bed tray and patted his back. “It’s been a while since I’ve been this sick. Is Melissa coming in soon?”

                “She should be,” Derek ran his fingers through Stiles’ hair and sat on the edge of the bed with him as he got sick yet again. Melissa came in momentarily and gave him some pills.

                “Do you think you can try to keep these down? They’ll work pretty fast,”  
                “I’ll sure try,” Stiles downed the pills with a paper cup filled with water. He was still shaking a little bit, but he kept them down.

                “You should be good for a while now,” Stiles nodded.

                “How about you get some rest eh?” Stiles shook his head.

                “I’m not tired,” Stiles’ eyelids were fluttering and he was yawning a lot.

                “Stiles, c’mon, you’ll feel better, just, just get some rest,” Stiles sighed and flopped down on his pillow.

                “It’ll be nice that I have my pillow now,”

                “What is it with your pillow?”

                “It smells like home, feels like home, reminds me that I’m not slowly dying in a hospital,”

                “Exaggerate much?”

                “Just, I’m going to bed,” Stiles rolled over and Derek dimmed down the lights before shutting the door and heading home. Since it was going to be a long drive back, Derek figured that he would just wait at school a little longer than usual. Maybe he would head over to the ice tea place downtown and get a green tea with a lemon. So when Derek got back into town, he headed downtown, picked up a tea for him and one for Mykah (she liked regular black sweet tea like Stiles did) and headed back to the school. By the time he got over to the school, it was time to start waiting inside the gym for the kids. He waited awkwardly with his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans, waiting for his bubbly daughter to, like usual, come bouncing out. Carol was standing next to Derek and tapped him on the shoulder.

                “Hey,”

                “Hey,”

                “So your husband and I were going to go have coffee and sort out the family issues sometime this week, and I kind of wanted you there too,” Carol started.

                “Okay…”

                “Well, how about we get together like this weekend at that one Moroccan coffee house?”

                “I don’t think this weekend is going to do, I’m sorry, we kind of had something that came up,”

                “Oh, okay, well, we could schedule it another time, what will be good with you two?” Just then, Mykah came running up to Derek, tugging at the sleeve of his thumb-hole sweater.

                “C’mon dad, we have to go see daddy tonight, c’mon let’s go!” She was persistent, trying to drag Derek out the door with her. Carol gave Derek a confused look.

                “Well, I don’t know, it all depends on Stiles right now, he’s in the hospital,”

                “Oh my God, is he okay?”              
                “He’s fine, he just, we found out that he relapsed yesterday and they’re starting him on intense chemo today,” Carol’s face fell.

                “I’m sorry, if there’s anything I or Kara can do, please just, don’t hesitate to ask,”

                “Thank you, I think we’re going to be okay,”

                “Okay, but still, don’t hesitate to ask,”

                “Okay, thank you. Well, Mykah seems pretty excited to head over to the hospital, so I guess we’re going to go over there,”

                “Duh we’re going over there, its daddy,” Mykah said, still dragging Derek’s arm towards the door.

                “What hospital?”             

                “Beacon Hills Memorial,”

                “All the way in the other town?”

                “We have some family members who work there and it’s a little more comforting there,” Carol nodded. “Talk to you later, yeah?”

                “Yeah,” Derek went with Mykah back out to the car and she quickly got in, buckling herself up.

                “How was daddy today?”            

                “He wasn’t feeling the best earlier after his treatment, and when I left, he was sleeping, so when we get there, be really quiet, it takes a lot more energy and time for humans to heal, just remember that,”

                “Okay dad,” She looked in the cup holder and grabbed the cup of tea, drinking a lot of it. “Today at school, we got a whole hour to just read, and it was really awesome, I got halfway through one of my books, so it was a pretty good day, but I was pretty stir crazy to go see daddy, I just,”

                “I understand, you want to proof that he’s okay, it’s a werewolf thing. Uncle Scott’s been by a lot to check on him,” Derek pulled into the hospital parking lot and parked the car. Mykah and Derek rode up to the 7th floor to room 741, where Stiles was actually up, still looking exhausted. Mykah went running into the room and jumped on the bed next to Stiles.

                “You’re okay,”

                “Yes baby, I’m okay,” Stiles pulled the drawing from his bedside table and handed it to Mykah, who quickly grabbed it and looked it over.

                “Daddy, I love it! I love it so much!” She hugged Stiles, bumping his glasses off of his face. “Sorry,” He readjusted them and Mykah cuddled next to him. “I have a question for you,”

                “What is it sweetie?”

                “Why wasn’t I allowed to read that book that dad took?” Stiles looked at Derek, and Derek gave him the “be the father, you give the explanation” face and Stiles shook his head.

                “Well, when my mom died, it was really hard on me. I mean, she is the reason I’m into art and music, and she was overall an amazing person, and you’re so much like her, but I was really depressed, and even before she passed, my stupid self, well, decided to look up what it would look like when she got worse, and it scared me to think that my mom was withering away from me, and I don’t want you to be like that, okay? I don’t want you to live at the hospital like I did for like a year with my mom, okay? I want you to enjoy childhood, because that’s what would make me happy, and I want you to know that nothing will ever be as bad as you might think, and I wanted you to know that before you read that book. You can have it back now, but no offense, you are pretty self-destructive,” Mykah immediately looked to the scars on Stiles’ arm from where she had scratched him. She hung her head down.

                “Yeah, yeah, I know,”

                “But none of this is your fault, nor will it ever be your fault, you need to understand that, because I lived another six years without knowing that my mom’s death wasn’t my fault,”

                “Okay daddy,” She said quietly.

                “I love you,”  
                “I love you too,” She hugged Stiles as hard as she could. “Don’t leave me,” She said, clinging onto Stiles for dear life, like she was about to fall off a cliff and Stiles was the only thing she was holding onto.

                “I will do my best not to sweetie,” He said. “I would promise if I could, and you know that,”

                “I know,” She buried her little face into Stiles’ chest and hugged him for as long as she could before she finally got off, wiped the tears that were now running down her face, and sat next to Derek on the couch. Stiles looked extremely tired and barely able to keep his eyes open. He knew that the chemo was kicking his ass, and it didn’t really help that he didn’t get a good night’s sleep the night before.

                “I love you,” Derek said, standing up and grabbing Stiles’ hand.

                “I love you too,” They kissed and Derek rustled Stiles’ hair.

                “I’ll be back in the morning, okay? Please get some rest before dinner, maybe ask Melissa for something if you can’t fall asleep, you need a lot of it,”

                “Okay Derek, I’ll be fine, I am in a hospital you know,”

                “I just,”

                “Worry?” Derek didn’t really respond to that. That’s exactly what he was going to say.

                “Yes. It’s a wolf thing, you know. It’s the same reason why Mykah was about to run to the hospital herself, it’s a sort of connection,”  
                “I know. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Derek gave Stiles’ hand one last squeeze and then left with Mykah. In the car, Mykah was fumbling with her fingers as Derek merged into the left lane on the highway. “Something on your mind?”  
                “Kind of,” She said, looking out the window. “You and daddy, you do the ‘love you more, love you most’ thing, where did you get that?”

                “We actually took it from the movie Tangled,”

                “Tangled?”

                “Have we never showed you that Disney movie? It’s about Rapunzel?”  
                “I don’t think so,”

                “Well, tomorrow we’re going to watch that, because when we get home, you need to work on your homework, and trumpet. Piano can wait until daddy comes home,”  
                “Okay,”

                “How much homework do you have?”

                “Just a little division and the usual reading calendar crap. Can you just sign all of the spots? You already know I read at home?”

                “That is one thing I don’t mind doing,” Derek finally exited the highway and they headed back to the house. “So, are you okay?”

                “I think so. Hasn’t really registered I guess,” Mykah pressed her nose to the glass of the passenger window and let out a defeated sigh. He knew she was trying to be the rock for everyone, and like usual, being really self-destructive. Derek wished she wasn’t like that, and didn’t try so hard to do a better job at something, because a better job wasn’t needed. She was too like Stiles in the stance that she wanted to be perfect, and even though no one would ever point at her and tell her what was wrong with her, she would always break down before anyone ever said anything, because that’s just how she was.

                That night one everything was wrapped up for the night, he found Mykah coming back into bed with Derek. On any other occasion he would be annoyed and ask her kindly to go back to bed, but he needed someone to fill the other side of the bed, and even though she might be a strong young girl, she also needed someone to comfort her. She always curled up in the middle of the bed like Stiles did, and Derek always wrapped his arms tightly around her as she let out quiet little snores as she fell asleep.

                Two hours later. That’s how long it lasted before Mykah woke up with a nightmare. She was whimpering in her sleep, and it immediately woke Derek. She carefully woke her up and she jolted awake, crying her eyes out.

                “Dad!” She threw her arms around him.               

                “Shh, you’re okay, I’m here, and you’re okay now!”

                “It was a nightmare dad, it was a nightmare,” She said, shaking in fear. “The hunters, they got me when I was running through the woods with one of those bear traps and then they dragged me, and I was screaming, but they were just laughing, and then one of them kept electrocuting me, and,” She stopped and started to hyperventilate. Oh shit, Derek thought. She’s having a panic attack. She started breathing heavily and curled into a ball. She was now gasping for breath and Derek picked her up and rocked her back and forth.

                “Sweetie, you’re okay, c’mon Mykah, it was just a dream, you’re better than this, okay?” Derek said the same thing that he said to Stiles when he would get panic attacks. He then started to sing in her ear.

                “I see the moon, the moon sees me, the moon and the stars, and all the little things,” Mykah started to calm down.

                “Dad, what was that?”

                “That’s a panic attack. That’s what happened to daddy in the car a couple of weeks ago. He used to get them a lot, but you’re okay, right? I’ll be here to protect you, I’m here. We don’t have to worry about hunters, that’s why we moved, okay?” She nodded. “Now let’s try to go back to sleep,” She wriggled herself close to Derek and latched her small little arms around Derek’s bicep and she finally went back to sleep, again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry. As I am in the middle of writing the next chapter, I can tell you that it is much less depressing, so maybe that'll make up? Hope you enjoyed it!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, let me just say that back to school has got me completely fucked. Just saying. I have been loaded up on homework and the time to do this homework is filled up with marching band, so I'm going to apologize now for practically dropping off of the radar. And also this work wouldn't pull up, it was temporarily lost to my account (ya), but here's the chapter. I've put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it, because it's more of a filler chapter (the chapter after this I will probably have death threats, so stay tuned), and it's a little shorter (not really my choice, more like father time's choice) and there was a request to post again, so here it is. I'm posting this at school between classes because I told myself I need to post this. I've actually been saying it for a while. But anyway enjoy, and I'll try to have the next chapter done and posted soon, but until after October, there's no promises.  
> Thanks for reading everyone! You guys are awesome! I've gotten so much good feedback!

**Stiles:** The next couple of days were a little better for Stiles. He was still irritated that he was still stuck in the hospital, and that he had little energy to do anything except a little work here and there. Chemo was kicking his ass, but he was at least able to eat food without throwing up every mealtime, and Stiles didn’t mind sleeping a lot. He felt like a teenager, a teenager before cancer, where in the summer he would sleep until three in the afternoon and lazily lay around his room, maybe play some videogames, then have a bowl of cereal before riding his bike over to Scott’s house.

                Today though, after a nine day stay, Stiles finally got to go home. Getting out of the hospital took forever, but once he was finally signed out, he was sent home with about eight different prescriptions he needed to fill. Mykah was already at school, and Derek drove him home.

                “You know, I can drive myself perfectly fine,” Stiles grumbled in the passenger seat.

                “Why didn’t you take a shower at the hospital? You smell like shit,”        

                “If I’m going to bathe, I would rather do it in our nice Jacuzzi in the bathroom and with my shampoo and conditioner and body wash, because I don’t want to smell like hospital,”

                “You already do,”  
                “More like hospital,” Stiles sighed. “But I have to go by work and get some more things. Are we leaving for our trip this weekend?”

                “That’s what I planned for. I made reservations at Disney for us,” Stiles smiled. “But we’re having coffee with Carol at that one Moroccan place downtown as soon as you bathe and get those awful bangs off of your forehead because they look like hell,”

                “Derek, the bangs are bangin’,”

                “It looks like you glued a dead bird to your fucking forehead,”

                “Yes, I realize,” Stiles yawned and crossed his legs in the seat, changing the radio station. “You know, we should ride the hell out of all of the rides at Disneyland. Especially Tower of Terror. I love that ride,”

                “Well, after we get back from coffee, we need to get packed so we can leave, and also drop Mykah off at your dad’s. I assume that’s gonna take a while,”

                “Yeah, well, guess we should start packing, well, you’re probably already packed, so just me,” Derek pulled into the driveway and Stiles got out, Derek staying in the car.

                “You coming in?”  
                “I’m gonna go get your prescriptions right now, I’ll be back soon,” Stiles shrugged his shoulders and Derek pulled out. Stiles pulled the keys from his pocket and unlocked the house. He took a deep breath in, feeling at home. He shut the door and went upstairs, where he stripped out of his clothes and sat in the Jacuzzi, scrubbing himself clean of the hospital smell, knowing that Mykah and Derek weren’t really fond of it. He then hopped in the shower to wash his hair and finally got out. He took a towel and dried his hair before putting it around his waist. He looked at himself in the mirror, pushing his hair out of his face and rubbing the tattoo he had on his arm.

                “You haven’t failed me yet, there’s still some strength,” He traced the black ink on his skin and sighed. He brushed his teeth and put a little gel in his hair to get it out of his face and off of his forehead and cleaned the lenses of his glasses before putting them back on. He threw on a long sleeved, loose fitting shirt that said Waikiki Beach on the front and had a surfboard. He got it when they went on their honey moon to Hawaii, which was amazing. They stayed in a hotel that was within walking distance of the beach, and was across the street from the Cheesecake Factory. God that was such a good trip.

                “Ugh,” Stiles said out loud, starting to pack a bag. He heard the garage door open and knew that Derek was already back. He heard the door open and Derek call up the stairs.

                “Home!”  
                “Okay!”

                “Are you ready to go?”

                “Yeah, just, give me a sec,” Stiles threw a couple more things in his bag before dragging it downstairs with him. He sat it next to the door and Derek handed him about eight paper bags with prescription bottles in them. Stiles sighed and sat at the kitchen table, undoing all of the paper bags and pulling out the side effects sheets and the pill bottles and read the sheets. Most of the side effects were confusion, lethargy, high blood pressure, chills, etc. Stiles sighed and then read the instructions on the bottle, taking one or two of each pill with water.

                “Jesus, it looks like you’re an old man,” Derek commented, chuckling.

                “Shut up, look who’s old, you’re almost 40,”  
                “33 Stiles, 33 is still seven years from 40,”

                “But I’m only 29, so…”

                “By the way, your birthday is coming up,”

                “Is it?”

                “Yeah, September 12th, duh,”

                “Ugh. Almost thirty. I’m so old,”

                “Oh, you did not just say that,” Derek bumped Stiles’ shoulder and he winced, rubbing it.

                “Careful, bruise,” Stiles rolled up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal a huge bruise from where the PICC line was in his arm. Derek winced at the sight of it.

                “Sorry, that looks like hell,”

                “Yeah, I know,” Derek and Stiles got into the car and headed downtown.

                “So, what do you want for your birthday?”

                “Um, I don’t know, nothing I guess. Just a get-together at the house. A whole bunch of friends, some kegs of beer, maybe some weed,”

                “Stiles,”

                “Okay, just the beer then,” Stiles was smiling. “And also we could rent a karaoke machine and get some beer pong going, and quarters and stuff, just have a good time,”

                “That sounds amazing. But I want to get you something,”  
                “I don’t want anything,”  
                “That’s a lie, I didn’t even have to listen to your heartbeat to know that was a lie,” Stiles bit his bottom lip.

                “I think you know that there’s only thing I want,” Stiles said, slightly grimly. He looked over at Derek who looked over-focused on the road, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter than usual.

                “Yeah, I know,”

                “But seriously, I just want a good time,” Derek smiled a little bit, loosened his grip on the steering wheel, and pulled one of his hands away, centering his left hand at the bottom of the steering wheel and putting his other hand on the gearshift. Stiles grabbed Derek’s hand and waffled their fingers together and Stiles pulled their hands close to them. Derek pulled up to the coffee place, where they saw Carol at a small table to sit the three of them.

                “I’ll get the coffee,” Derek said, getting in line behind a couple of other customers. Stiles sat down next to Carol and tapped his fingers on the table.

                “So, how have you been?”

                “Oh, I’ve been good, you know, the usual stuff,”  
                “So, where do you work?”

                “I work as an Anthem representative from home,”

                “That’s cool, you know Derek works from home too, he’s an author,” Stiles awkwardly played with the wedding ring around his finger. It’s something that he didn’t really grow out of. Derek came back with coffee and handed Stiles a little cup and he took a sip. He loved how the coffee was really black and dark, especially here. They brewed their coffee really strong.

                “So, what did you want to talk about?” Derek finally broke in.

                “Well, I just wanted to know if we could patch things up, I mean, I feel like I was really insensitive, and I didn’t realize that until my daughter opened my eyes and asked me why I was so hateful against you, and I couldn’t answer her. She changed my opinions, because after she asked me about that, I realized that you guys are happy, and even if Kara decides to be lesbian, bisexual, or even asexual, I would only care that she’s happy,” Stiles smiled.

                “Well, I accept your apology, what about you Derek?”

                “I do,”

                “I’m glad you see things from a different perspective,” Stiles said, adjusting his glasses.

                “On a different note, how have you been?” She asked Stiles. He figured Derek had told her at one point and shrugged.

                “Eh, life could be better, but it could be worse,” He gave a weary smile and drummed his fingertips on the top of his cup.

                “When did you get back from the hospital?”

                “This morning. God it was nice to go home. Tonight Derek and I are heading to Disney to spend a romantic weekend for Labor Day Weekend,”  
                “Are you taking Mykah with you?”

                “No, we’re dropping her by Stiles’ dad’s house. He wanted her this weekend so they could go to some museums and stuff that they were looking forward to going to. And by the way, we love Disney. You know for our honeymoon we went on a Disney cruise to Waikiki Beach,” Stiles chuckled.

                “Sounds like a fun weekend. How about next weekend we have Kara over, is that okay?”

                “That sounds great,” Derek smiled as he took another sip from his coffee.

                “Great, that’s great. Oh crap, is today an early release day?”  
                “Yeah,”

                “Then crap, we better get over to school, it’s already almost time for that,” They got up and scooted the chairs in before heading over to the school.

                “That went better than I expected,” Stiles said, getting his phone out and started to text. “Ugh,” He mumbled under his breath.

                “What’s wrong?”

                “Scott is being suck a fucking cling-on. ‘How are you?’ ‘Are you doing okay today?’ Like, I just want him to calm down. It’s just a little cancer,”

                “Did that really just come out of your mouth?”

                “What?”

                “Did you seriously just say ‘It’s just a little cancer’?”

                “Yeah,”

                “Stiles, he’s worried about you. I’m worried about you, hell, your daughter is worried about you, we’re all worried about you, and we love you, and I know you know that this is a big deal,”  
                “Just, I’ve given up, you know. Oh shit, no, not like that, that came out completely wrong, I mean that I’ve given up on trying to feel sorry for myself. I mean, I don’t really feel sorry for myself, but I don’t make that big of a deal out of myself,”

                “I know, just, God, I,” Derek couldn’t find the words to say, and Stiles knew what he was trying to say. “Just, to me, to Scott, to your dad, to Mykah, and all of your friends, you are a big deal, okay? Don’t ever tell yourself that you aren’t important enough for us, because no matter what, you always are, alright?”

                “Okay,” Derek pulled up to the school and they got out of the car, and like usual, waited in the gym for Mykah to come bouncing towards them, but to their surprise, she was waiting for them on one of the pulled out bleachers towards the top. Like usual, she had her nose deep in a book. He saw her little nose wriggle and she pushed her head up and shut the book, slipping it into her backpack and walking down to Stiles and Derek.

                “Daddy, you’re home,” She hugged him tight, not letting go. Stiles picked her up and embraced her a little harder. “I’m glad you’re out of the hospital,”

                “Me too baby, me too,” He put her down and she grabbed his hand as they walked out and went back to the car. “Are you ready to go to Grandpa John’s?”  
                “Yeah! He’s taking me to Sequoya National Park, and then we’re going to hit some art museums, and I’m really excited,”

                “Speaking of art,” Derek started. “I finally finished one of my books, and I need a certain someone to start drafting up an idea for the cover,”

                “I can do that,”

                “Alright,” They went in the house and Stiles made sure he had everything for the weekend. He took a couple of books for if they went to the pool, and also grabbed his colored pencil bag (which was mostly nubs at this point), his portable electric sharpener, and his favorite leather bound sketchbook that Mykah had gotten him for Christmas the year before (due to his complaining about always running out of sketchbooks). He also grabbed all of the chargers he needed for his laptop, tablet, and phone. By the time all of his bags were packed, he had three of them.

                “Daddy, why do you have so many bags?”

                “Well, this one has all of my electronic stuff, this one has my clothes, and this one has me and dad’s bath stuff and my medication and stuff. Speaking of,” Stiles went over to the counter and got all of the prescription bottles, putting them into the correct bag.

                “That’s a lot of medicine,”

                “Yeah, I know,” He carried his bags and Mykah’s bag and put them into the back of the Ford Escape and going back into the house. “You should probably get your trumpet and some music, you know Grandpa John will love to hear some of your jazz music. Have you practiced Riding on a Blue Note?”

                “Yeah, I like that one a lot. The solo section was kind of hard, so I improvised a little bit,” Stiles rustled her hair.

                “Good girl. When you get into jazz, they’re going to want improvisation, assuming you’re doing jazz band,”  
                “Duh, jazz is so interesting. Will you teach me guitar?”

                “Yeah, yeah we can do that,” Stiles went into the study with Mykah and picked out some sheet music for here to take as she got a couple of cones to put in the trumpet to make certain tones.

                “Daddy?”

                “Yes sweetie pie?”

                “What would happen if they couldn’t help you?”

                “What do you mean?”  
                “Like, the doctors couldn’t cure your cancer,”

                “Well then, I guess we’ll figure it out,” She nodded.

                “Just figure it out?”

                “Yeah,” She was quiet for a while before she answered again.

                “You can’t leave me,”

                “Oh?”

                “No, I love you too much. You have to stay, you just have to,”

                “I will do my best,”

                “That’s crap daddy, you can’t just do your best, and you’re not leaving if I have anything to do with it,”

                “I’ll take your word for it,” Stiles smiled and scooped her up as she laughed. He tickled her ribs and she laughed harder, kicking her legs. She kicked his arm and he winced.       

                “I’m sorry daddy,”

                “No, you’re okay baby, just a little sore there is all,” She squirmed out of Stiles’ arms and pushed up the sleeve on his shirt, seeing the bruise from the PICC line.

                “Oh,” She put her little hands over Stiles’ bicep and she started to take the pain from him. He didn’t have a lot, but the pain he did have was gone. He saw her small body tremble as it entered her own. “What did I just do?”

                “You took my pain away,”

                “Is, is this what dad does when you have a headache? Is this why he always has his hands around your head?”

                “Yes, that would be why,” Her eyes gleamed with excitement and promise.

                “I can help people. My hands, I can help people,”

                “You sure can. Like your grandmother said when dad was little, you are predators, but you don’t have to be killers,”

                “I want to work at the hospital like Uncle Scott and Mama Melissa. Do you think I could be a doctor?”

                “I think you could be an amazing doctor. Just keep those grades up, c’mon you’re slagging,” She smiled. “And you need to start getting a job, you can’t be a freeloader forever!”  
                “Daddy, I’m only 9, under child labor laws I’m not allowed to work, whether I want to or not,” Stiles did a fake sigh.

                “Well, I guess we’re just going to have to trade you in,”

                “NOOOO!”

                “Don’t worry, I was just joking, we won’t,” He picked her up and dangled her by her feet as she laughed. He lowered her to the ground and she hit her hands, doing a handstand, and kicking back down to the floor.

                “So you and dad are going to Disneyland?”

                “Yup,”  
                “I wish I could go with you. We could go another time though,” She said enthusiastically. Stiles had a bit of doubt in his mind that that would actually happen. He chuckled at the thought.

                “Yeah, we can do that,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                They pulled into Stiles’ dad’s house and Mykah excitedly bounced out of the car, opening the hatch on the back trunk and grabbing her stuff before running to the door. She rang the doorbell and John opened the door, picking her up into a hug.

                “There’s my favorite little girl!” He kissed her cheek and she did the same. He put her down and she ran out to the backyard, probably to play on the tire swing that John had put up shortly after she was born. Stiles walked into the house and his dad’s face fell a bit. He lunged forward and grabbed Stiles into an embrace, and Stiles hugged him back. He laid his head on his dad’ shoulder as he patted Stiles’ back. He finally released, his face drenched in tears.

                “So it’s true,” He said, his voice stripped. Stiles nodded, his lip quivering as a tear fell down his face. John shook his head. “No, God no, you can’t take my boy,” He took his wrists and wiped his face before setting his hands on Stile’s shoulders.

                “Dad, it’s okay,” John shook his head. Stiles continued to reassure his father, but after a while, even Stiles couldn’t convince himself. Finally they both stopped crying completely, got it together, and changed the topic.

                “So, what’s been going on?”

                “Nothing much. Mykah had her first change, which was like hell, and we had a little drama with another parent, but other than that, just, the norm, you know,” Stiles looked up from the floor. “She brought her trumpet, and really wants to play [Riding on a Blue Note](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2mTTJeEJwk) for you,”

                “Oh, I love jazz, I can’t wait,” John smiled.

                “When are you guys leaving?”

                “We’re going to leave early tomorrow morning. We’re going to head to San Francisco first, and just kind of go from there,”

                “Alright, well, Derek and I have to leave. Don’t have too much fun, seriously, and eat good food, no fried food,”

                “No promises,” Stiles rolled his eyes. “I love you son,”

                “Love you too dad, let me know how it goes, take pictures,” John shooed him.

                “Stiles, I raised you fine, I know the drill, just, don’t worry,”

                “Okay, well, see you later I guess,” Stiles walked back through the house and out the door, getting into the car. “So, are you ready for the drive?”

                “Disneyland soon,” Derek smiled, putting the car out of park and driving onto the street.

                “I’m such a cliché kid, wanting to go to Disneyland,”

                “Acting like a child is why I love you. And I love Disneyland too. I got a nice hotel room, and I was thinking we could, you know,”

                “Do the do?”

                “That is about the worst way to say that, but yeah, I mean,”

                “Nope, that’s all I need. Derek drive faster,”

                “I’m not getting pulled over,”  
                “Dammit, the vampires from Twilight can drive fast and no one gives the slightest fuck, why can’t that be you? And Edward even had a police officer’s kid, so…”

                “I will drive efficiently,”

                “So you’ll drive fast,”

                “I said efficiently,” Stiles sighed.

                “Okay. I just, I wanna,”

                “Stiles, we are not going to do that,”

                “But,”  
                “Stiles, we are adults, we are not going to do that,”

                “Derek,”

                “We are not going to be Scott and Allison,”

                “Are you sure we’re on the same page?”  
                “We are not having sex in the car,”  
                “We’ve done it before,”

                “When we were reckless adolescents when I had people staying at my house and we couldn’t go to your house, but now we’re married, adults, and civilized,”

                “But Derek, we’re going to Disneyland,” The car was silent for several seconds. He took the next exit and Stiles started to smile.

                “No, I just need gas,” Stiles’ smile vanished.

                “Worst. Car. Trip. Ever.”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles woke up to Derek still driving on the highway. It was now dark out, probably only around eight. He rolled over and rearranged the seatbelt so it didn’t poke him awkwardly in the chest. He tucked his knees into his chest, being a little cold.

                “Cold?” Stiles nodded. Derek reached in the backseat for a sweatshirt and Stiles pushed his arm away.

                “I’m fully capable of getting a sweatshirt,”

                “Okay, jeez,” Stiles fetched one of Derek’s overgrown sweatshirts and put over his legs.

                “Sorry, it’s just, everyone has been ‘Oh, let me get that for you’ like, yeah, I may be a cancer patient but I’m not a fucking cripple. I can still walk, still get things for myself. I’m just tired. And dying. And tired of dying,”  
                “Stiles, you are not dying, okay, they did not set a date for you, they expect you to make a nearly full recovery,”

                “There’s just this feeling, this gut feeling I have and have had for the past couple of weeks when even I myself suspected that the cancer came back, and even though it is about the best worst news we could have asked for, I mean, I feel like something’s going to screw it all up like it always does,” Stiles sighed and slouched down in the seat. They were nearing LA, and Stiles was getting a bit anxious.

                “Please, just, just look at the positive side of this, for the sake of yourself, and for the sake of your daughter. Literally the whole time that you were in the hospital, she just wouldn’t stop crying, she was crying about how it was all her fault, that she took advantage of having you in her life. She also said that she hated hurting you, and she knew that she was disappointing you,”

                “What? Why would she think such a thing?”

                “Well, after the whole full moon thing when she cut you, and also when we were arguing with Carol about her homophobia, and she thinks it’s all her fault,”

                “I even told her that none of this is her fault, and that no matter what, everything would be okay, and I haven’t even hinted to her how serious it could become,” Stiles said _it_ like it was a mangled monster. And it was, it was a vindictive and narcissistic disease that was disgusting and did what it wanted, no matter what it did to you.

                “She took one of your traits Stiles, she does research. She researched your condition,”

                “How do you know?”

                “Well, I opened my google chrome and I went to sign onto this page I was at for research for one of my books, and as I scrolled through my search history, the search ‘the severity of osteosarcoma’ popped up,”

                “She’s probably been worrying herself to death, Jesus,” Stiles fretted, pulling at his hair. “Just. Fuck. This is all my fault. Dammit. If I wouldn’t’ve gotten sick again, this is all hell. I wish that maybe I wouldn’t’ve gotten out of that coma,”

                “Stiles, don’t you dare say that, there are too many people who depend on you, do you understand?” Derek yelled.

                “Yes,” Stiles said quietly, suddenly feeling fear towards his husband. They drove for several minutes in silence, not even the radio turned up before Derek said something.

                “I’m sorry Stiles, I just. I can’t lose you. I’ve lost almost my entire family, and I don’t know what my world would be like without you. It sure wouldn’t be worth living. I would have to take care of Mykah all on my own, and I’m not as good with her as you are, and she’s a spitting image of you. Please, just,” Derek was now crying. Stiles didn’t know that Derek could cry. He never, ever saw a single tear come out of Derek’s eyes. Scott said that the night that Stiles got his tumor removed and had complications that he broke down in the elevator, and in the car coming home. Stiles took his sleeve and wiped the trail of tears from Derek’s face. They turned off to exit towards LA and Stiles just held Derek’s face with one of his hands.

                “You are beautiful. You are amazing. Please don’t cry. Everything will work out, I’m sure of it,” Stiles pecked small, soft kisses to Derek’s temple and grabbed his hand that laid on the gear shift and squeezed it, hard.

                “What if it doesn’t?” Stiles smiled, a little hurt.

                “Then I’ll just repeat the mantra that keeps popping up. We’ll figure it out,” Stiles kissed Derek’s cheek, as Derek sniffled behind the wheel, trying to get himself calmed down. By the time they found the hotel, Derek was completely fine. He dropped Stiles off to go check into the room while he waited in the car. Stiles walked into the amazing hotel, a large glass chandelier dangling from the ceiling.

                “May I help you?”

                “Yes, I’m here to check in for Hale,” The desk attendant typed away on a computer.

                “Ah yes, Sti-les and Derek Hale?”  
                “It’s pronounced Stiles,”

                “I’m sorry. Okay, here are your room keys, and you’re room 357,” Stiles took the keys and nodded his head in acknowledgement before heading back out to the car, finding it parked in the parking lot as Derek grabbed the luggage. Stiles shoved the keys in his pocket and grabbed a couple of the bags out of Derek’s arm and they went back in, taking the elevator up to the third floor.

                “I got a deluxe suite for us,”

                “Oh yeah?” Stiles opened the door and saw the large room. There was a king bed in the middle of the room, with a couple of nightstands, a desk, a table with chairs, and in the bathroom there was a large Jacuzzi, similar to what was in Stiles and Derek’s bathroom.

                “Give me a second, do you mind waiting outside for like, three minutes?” Stiles shook his head. “Okay,” Stiles went outside of the room and sat on the floor. He knew that Derek was preparing the romantic night and Stiles was excited. He pressed his ear to the door and heard some music coming through the door. It was [Casual Affair by Panic! At the Disco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyx0W5UhJGM). Finally, he heard Derek unlock the door and open it, Stiles falling into the room. He half crawled in the room and saw that there were a whole bunch of candles lit everywhere and rose petals covering the bed. Stiles smiled as Derek stood in front of him, slowly undressing, biting the bottom seam of his shirt once he pulled it over his head.

                “A casual affair,” the song sang as Derek threw the shirt off. “I did it I did it I did it I did it I did it I did it I did it again.”

                “Derek, Stiles groaned as Derek slowly stripped his jeans, exposing his gray American Eagle boxers. Even though he was almost 40, he sure still had hell of a body. Stiles’ mouth was watering, and Derek took Stiles’ glasses off of his face and threw them on the desk. He then pulled Stiles’ shirt over his head and started nipping at Stiles’ neck, leaving a hickey. Stiles moaned and shoved his hands down towards Derek’s boxers, dancing his fingers around his hips before slipping his fingers in the elastic. He then played, snapping the elastic lightly on Derek’s hips with his fingertips before finally reaching towards his front, stroking Derek. Derek lifted his head up and Stiles crawled his fingers up and pulled his pants down. He looked at Derek, really looked at him. Derek slowly crawled over to the bed, Stiles following. Derek unzipped Stiles’ jeans and pulled the rest of Stiles’ clothing down, Stiles stepping out of his boxers and jeans as he crawled into the bed with Derek. Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek’s shoulders and shuttered as he felt Derek touch him. He knew what was coming (pun definitely intended). Stiles then opened his eyes wide as he felt Derek’s tip going into his hole. He wasn’t expecting that. He bit his lip to stop himself from screaming and disturbing the other guests as Derek started to rock back and forth. Stiles got into the rhythm and grabbed Derek’s back, kissing his chest. The song changed to [Boom Clap by Charli XCX.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOPMlIIg_38)

                They continued at this for a while, longer than Stiles was used to, considering that (admittedly) their sex life wasn’t as good as it used to be. It hadn’t been in a while, mostly because they have a kid, who is supernatural and Stiles knew that (if his mom was still alive, and) his parents had sex and he caught them, that he would be scarred for life. By the time they finally finished, Stiles and Derek were disgustingly sticky (but Stiles didn’t mind, because SEX! He knew he was acting like a teenager, but even adults can be excited about a little intercourse). He sighed and smiled.

                “That was amazing,”

                “How about we clean up,” They both went to the Jacuzzi, which wasn’t quite as nice as the one in their bathroom, but it could be worse. They washed themselves off with the body wash that Derek had (he only liked using a certain one that didn’t interfere with the scent of Stiles too much, or mixed into it in kind of a pleasant way). Usually when they clean up, they blow each other, but Derek caught onto the drift that Stiles was too tired, and Stiles thanked god he had someone who understood. They got back in the bed and Derek spooned Stiles, which he didn’t mind, considering they would switch off on who was the big spoon. Derek held him tightly against his chest and turned out the light, his heat warming Stiles like an oven. He heard the quiet snoring of the beta werewolf next to his ear and he leaned his head in towards him. He couldn’t sleep, he had too much on his mind, a lot based on what would happen when he went back home. He knew he would go back to his job (he had been itching to get back into his normal routine that wasn’t sitting in a hospital being poisoned with chemicals), and do normal stuff, but he also knew that nothing would be normal. There had always been this voice in the back of his head that always wondered if exactly this happened one day, and what he would do about it. But now he was here, and all of his ideas that he came up with were of no help. Preparing himself for the worst obviously didn’t work like it usually did, and he didn’t know who or where to turn to.

                “No,” Derek grumbled, pulling Stiles closer to him, still asleep. “You can’t take him, he’s mine,” He said sleepily. Then, he started to feel muffling into his back, followed by a sound that he had heard only the first time earlier that day. Derek was crying. Sleep crying into his back. “It’s not fair,” He kept saying through muffled sobs.

                “Derek,” Stiles rustled Derek awake and he shot up. He wiped his eyes, looked around the dark room, and saw Stiles.

                “Oh my god, oh my god you’re still here,” He hugged Stiles as hard as he could. “I’m sorry, I just, had a nightmare about you, and,” Stiles cut Derek off with a kiss, sucking on Derek’s bottom lip. “Please don’t leave me,”

                “You sound exactly like your daughter,” Stiles said, giving a half smile.

                “She’s yours too,”

                “Like I told her, I’m not going anywhere,” Stiles really wanted to add an “I promise” to the end of the sentence, but it wasn’t something he could promise. He wasn’t god, but he wish he would have, because then his mother would still be alive, Allison, Aiden, Boyd, Erica, Everyone would still be alive, and he wouldn’t’ve had cancer, and he would’ve eliminated the disease entirely, but Stiles accepted that he wasn’t god a long time ago, and that sometimes he didn’t have control of his life, actually, most times.

                “I don’t know what I would do without you,” Stiles gave a weary smile that was barely visible through the dark. There was an ominous white stream of light coming in through the curtains, and Stiles came up and pulled the black-out curtain over it before crawling back into bed where he resided. He was still thinking about the worst case scenario, walking himself through what it would be like for everyone else if he died. It was never himself. That was never the reason that Stiles clung onto his humanity, or even his life. It was always other people. When he was depressed, he thought of his dad, and how hard it would be for him to have no one anymore. Now, he thought of Derek and Mykah. He knew far too well that Mykah’s self-destruction came equally from both of them, and how she would react. It would be the exact same thing that happened with Stiles, but Derek wouldn’t be Stiles’ dad, he would probably kill himself, or mentally drown himself and never talk to anyone, it was just his attitude, so he knew that Mykah would take it extremely. It was just another side effect of having slightly animalistic children and spouses.

                Stiles finally cleared his mind and fell asleep, grasping onto Derek’s arm, taking advantage of the small things that he might not have later.

                                ~~~*~~~

                The next morning, Derek and Stiles were inside Disneyland, and Stiles felt like such a cliché kid. The first thing Stiles did was run over to the California Adventure letters. He pulled his skinny little body onto the C and chuckled to himself.

                “Hey Derek, I’m going to do a handstand,” Stiles called, Derek shaking his head.

                “Are you challenging me to a handstand contest?” Derek called back.

                “Duh, come on Sourwolf, get someone to take our picture,” Stiles got off of the C and back onto the ground as Derek convinced a nice young woman with a Shirley Temple looking daughter to take the picture. They counted off and did handstands in front of the sign, Stiles almost stumbling, and of course Derek doing it perfectly, because, have you seen his fucking arm muscles? They came down and the woman gave Derek back his phone, with a perfect picture.

                “We look hawt,” Stiles commented, poking Derek’s stomach. Derek slipped his phone in his pocket and grabbed Stiles’ hips and hoisted him over his shoulder, carrying him over to wait in line for California Screamin’. Derek put Stiles on the ground as he squirmed around like a retard.

                “Get off of the ground Stiles, god, you’re so uncivilized,” Stiles huffed and got off of the asphalt, brushing the dirt off of his khaki shorts. He touched his face in habit of pushing his glasses up, and then remembered he put in contacts so he wouldn’t lose them. They neared the entrance to the ride and got on, the safety restraint coming down over their chests.

                “This used to be my favorite ride when I was a kid. I used to ride it so many times until my dad couldn’t do it anymore, and it was amazing,” Stiles smiled as the ride moved slowly and a countdown was blaring audibly through a speaker before it zipped off and up a hill, dropping, doing a couple of sideways curves, and then going up a couple more hills until it looped upside down over the Mickey Mouse sign and it was finally done. Stiles got off and looked as Derek was wobbling from the dizziness, like a dog in the back of a truck once the truck stopped. He chuckled and Derek finally got his bearings, following Stiles to wherever he ventured off to next.

                “We should go head over to Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain, and the Matterhorn. You know what, how about all of the mountain rides, those are always fun,” Stiles bounced like a cheeky child and walked over the bridge by Cinderella’s Castle, looking inside the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique at all of the girls getting their hair and makeup done like a princess. Stiles thought of Mykah when he saw that, and how much she despised princesses, because of their cowardly attitudes and need for men to help them. The only princess she liked was Mulan, because she was a warrior princess who actually fought and “broke the barriers of sexism”.

                “I never got to ask you, how did Mykah’s game go?”

                “Remember, I told you it got canceled due to rain,”

                “Oh yeah,” Stiles sighed. He was losing his memory a little bit. Probably from exhaustion from the chemo. They walked and got in line for Splash Mountain. “I’m kind of scared,” Stiles said, leaning his head on Derek’s shoulder.

                “We’ve been on this ride so many times, what do you mean?”

                “No, not about the ride, just, everything. I’m scared,” Derek didn’t respond for a while, Stiles weaving his fingers through Derek’s loose fist.

                “I am too,”

                “You’ll stay, right?” Derek looked appalled that Stiles would say such a thing.

                “Why would I leave?”

                “Well, like I said last time, it’s a good time to leave, get out of all of the responsibility you might not want to worry about,”

                “Stiles, I’m not leaving, nor will I ever leave. Neither will Mykah. We’re staying until the end,”

                “The end? The end of me?”

                “No, the end of your cancer, because I have hope you can defeat it,”

                “I’ve kicked it’s ass before,”

                “And you’ll do it again,” Stiles nuzzled his head in the crook of Derek’s neck and Derek wrapped his arms around Stiles, slightly walking forward as the line moved up. Once they got on the ride, they would occasionally dip their hands in the water in which the log was riding on and splash each other. Then, when they knew the big drop was coming, they kissed while holding onto the bar in front of them, hearing the shutter of the camera. They got off of the ride and went over to the photo booth, seeing their cute photo. Derek pulled out a twenty and paid for the picture and they went onto the next area.

                “I’m starving,” Stiles said, licking his lips. Derek shrugged.

                “Well, let’s eat then,”

                                ~~~*~~~  
                “Hi daddy!”  
                “Hi princess!” Stiles held his cellphone close to his ear as Derek and Stiles were back at the hotel room. “How was your day?”

                “It was awesome! We went to a couple of national parks, and we also got a hotel and we’re going to go to the beach tomorrow down in San Diego!” Stiles could hear her excitement over the phone.

                “That’s awesome! So I just wanted to call to say that we’re going to come back a little early,”

                “Why?”

                “Well, we already finished all the fun stuff!” Stiles said excitedly. “I’ll see you Monday,” He hung up the phone and laid back on the bed, an ice pack to his head. His shirt was off, and so were his pants, as he laid on the bed.

                “You should have drank more water today, it was hot,” Stiles sighed and crawled up into a ball.

                “It was embarrassing. I fainted in the parking lot,”

                “It’s okay, really. It was hot outside, you were tired, and severely dehydrated,” Stiles scoffed at that as Derek put his hand on Stiles’ cheek, drawing out the headache he got. “Just try to drink some water, and we’ll go home tomorrow,”

                “I’m sorry I screwed it up again,”

                “Don’t worry about it, we had an amazing day,” Derek kissed his cheek and Stiles rolled over towards him.

                “This sucks,”

                “Try not to think about it,” Derek put his hand to Stiles’ forehead. “Your head is hot. Let’s check out now and go back home,”

                “No,” Stiles groaned.

                “Stiles, you might have a fever, we need to get you home, and if all else, call Melissa to come over and check you out, and we need to read on your medication,” Stiles tried to protest, but he was too tired. Derek already had everything packed, and was now putting a shirt over Stiles, who wasn’t moving very fast due to the fact he was tired and not feeling good. Derek didn’t make him eat anything other than when they had eaten lunch in fear that he would throw up. He pulled some sweatpants onto him and grabbed the bags.

                “I’m going to go check out and put the bags in the car. I’ll be right back for you,” Stiles nodded his head and heard as Derek pulled the door stopper out and left the room. Stiles’ head was thudding loudly, and his stomach was doing cartwheels. God, he wish he would have drank something, he also wished he didn’t have to take pills like an old person.

                It felt like hours before Derek came back, but it was only a few minutes. Derek put Stiles over his shoulder and carried him out, locking the hotel room. He went down the stairs and out the side door where the car was parked and put Stiles in the front seat.

                “It’s going to be a long drive back, so just try to sleep it off,” Stiles nodded and put his head against the window, Derek slipping a pillow under his arm to use.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles woke up on the couch with a blanket draped over him, and unlike earlier, he was cold, freezing. He shifted his shoulders against the arm of the couch and it stung, and Stiles suspected he got a sun burn. There was a thermometer in his mouth, but Derek was nowhere in sight. The thermometer beeped and he heard Derek come rumbling down the stairs to check it.

                “98.5. That’s normal for you, eh?”

                “Yeah,” Stiles’ bodily temperature was always a little higher than most people.

                “Well, you’re pretty dehydrated and I suspect sun poisoning, considering your hands are clammy and you have a horrible sunburn on the back of your shoulders,” Stiles sighed as Derek handed him a Gatorade. He took a couple of sips before he had to put it down. “No, the whole thing,” Stiles whined and Derek gave him the look of doom, and Stiles took a couple more big drinks.

                “There,” He groaned. Derek went into the kitchen and got all of the papers associated with his medications and scanned through all of them with his reading glasses.

                “Well, some of the symptoms say dizziness, headache, nausea, and lethargy, so that might explain what happened earlier, but I can guarantee that it will be better once you get some fluid back in you,”

                “Sure thing doctor,” Stiles said, rolling over.

                “Hey, I don’t really have a choice to play doctor, do I?” Stiles scoffed.

                “No. And I don’t have a choice to be patient. You wanna switch it around for a day?”

                “You’re funny,” Stiles drank a little more Gatorade and turned on the Xbox, asking Derek to put in season 1 of Shameless as he laid on the couch. “Do you need anything?”

                “No. Sorry for being a bother,”

                “Stiles, stop that. You are not a bother, just stop,” Derek laid next to him on the couch, hanging off a bit.

                “This couch isn’t big enough for both of us you know,” Stiles mentioned. “We could vacate upstairs, have some more sex,”

                “Are you feeling okay for that? Like, are you in the mood?” Stiles looked down at his crotch and looked back up at Derek.

                “Yeah, definitely in the mood,” He got off of the couch, feeling a little bit dizzy and climbed the stairs up to their bedroom, pushing both of the doors open of the bedroom. Derek picked Stiles up, closing the doors and pushed him against them. Stiles could feel Derek’s wolf attacking him and he loved it. Derek bit down on Stiles’ shoulder and licked at the small droplets of blood seeping up from it. Stiles felt his pants being pushed down, hanging at his knees because his legs were wrapped around Derek’s hips. He reached behind Derek’s head and kissed him, letting his tongue explore the inside of Derek’s mouth before he felt Derek squeeze tighter on his ass and turn in a circle, tossing Stiles onto the bed. Stiles slipped his shirt off and Derek undressed completely as he edged towards Stiles, his eyes flashing blue a bit, and Stiles was getting turned on by the wolfy eyes. Derek crawled on top of Stiles and started feeling the inside of his legs. He really liked that, liked that a lot. Stiles crept his hands and squeezed Derek’s ass, giving it a slap and hearing Derek bellow out a low growl. He loved when Derek was like this. Loved when he was so monstrous.

                “Are you ready?” Stiles nodded anxiously as Derek put his mouth around Stiles’ cock and started to suck him off. Stiles quivered and grabbed a fistful of sheets before he let himself loose in Derek’s mouth. Derek smiled and wiped his mouth. “How was that?”

                “Amazing, like, holy shit,”  
                “Well, I didn’t want you to be too exhausted, thought a little oral sex was the way to go,”

                “Oh, oral sex is always the way to go. Call me a teenager, but who doesn’t love a good handy, or BJ once in a while, am I right?” Derek nodded. “Considering I’m the one usually sucking you off,” Derek blushed.

                “I’ll go get shameless so we can watch it, sound good?”

                “Yeah. Make some popcorn, and get some beer,”

                “Alright,” Derek went downstairs and Stiles nuzzled into his side of the bed. It felt so much better to be in their king sized pillow-top mattress with the Egyptian cotton sheets. God did he love those Egyptian cotton sheets that were soft and silky against his legs. He also loved his pillow. Even when he had gotten a new one when he headed off to college, it was still his, and that’s all that mattered. It had his pillowcase on it, his scent, and a feeling of home.

                Derek finally came back upstairs with two beers, a bowl full of popcorn, and the Shameless box stuffed under his arm. He handed Stiles one of the beers and sat the popcorn bowl on the bed as he popped in the DVD and turned on the show.

                “I love you,” Stiles said after a while. “I appreciate you so much, you have no clue, and I am so thankful I have someone as caring and beautiful as you,”

                “I love you more,” Derek pulled Stiles close, and for the first time in a while, Stiles spooned Derek, Derek grabbing Stiles’ arm and pulling it close to his body. “I’ll love you forever,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Once the weekend was over and Mykah was back at home, Stiles went back to work. After entering the building, getting his normal coffee, and getting back to his office, there were streamers and balloons everywhere.

                “Welcome back buddy!” Charlie and Luanne said, giving him hugs.

                “What’s this for?”

                “You haven’t been at work for like, two weeks, we needed to celebrate, because the office has been a dead zone since you’ve been gone,” Stiles smiled.

                “Well, I have a lot of work to catch up on, so if you want to, we can vacate this party to my office. We can watch star wars,”

                “Okay!” Everyone went into Stiles’ office, Stiles choosing his normal green beanbag to lounge on and everyone else filed around him.

                “So,” Charlie started, crossing his legs. “What, happened exactly? We weren’t told anything, they just said you wouldn’t be in for a while,” Stiles sighed. He knew the conversation was going to happen at one point.

                “Well, when I was eighteen, I was diagnosed with cancer, and basically no one thought I was going to make it as far as I did. At the end of the year, I finally got put in remission, and had been like that ever since,”

                “Wait, you mean have, correct?” Luanne said.

                “No, I meant had. I had some tests done several weeks ago because I wasn’t feeling right, and it came back,” Charlie and Luanne looked like they wanted to cry.

                “Stiles, I, I’m so sorry,”

                “It’s okay. I mean, I should have been expecting it to happen, or at least prepare myself, but after ten years, you forget that such a point existed in your life,” Stiles sighed and slumped down into the bean bag he was in. “But, it could be worse,”

                “Worse?”

                “I have the daughter I always wanted, I have a loving husband, and even though this is pretty bad news, it could be way worse, so far they expect me to recover, even if it’s just a little tumor shrinkage. When I had it the first time, they didn’t expect me to live two months, it was aggressive cancer, and this time I guess it’s not as bad, so at least there’s a silver lining,”

                “Still, it’s pretty shitty,” Charlie patted his back and Stiles looked up. “So, what are you going to do?”

                “Well, so far we’re going to do chemo, see where that takes us, and after that we’ll figure it out I guess. It’s pretty funny, Derek and I have said that we would figure it out since the first round,” No one said anything for a while, and finally Stiles broke the silence. “So, the new ads for the google play store, eh?”

                                ~~~*~~~

                “Daddy?” Mykah called from the stairs. Stiles put down the book he was reading, spine up, and looked up.

                “Yes sweetie?”

                “Will you come up to my room? I wanna show you something,”  
                “I would love to,” Stiles pushed himself off of the couch, groaning from being tired. He was pretty tired from chemo after work, and by just doing thing. He went up the stairs and went into Mykah’s room, sitting on the bed.

                “No offense, but you look a lot older,” Mykah pointed out, touching his face.

                “It’s just because I’m tired,” He said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “So what is it you wanted to show me?” Mykah tugged on a blanket that laid over her easel and it dropped to the floor. The canvas on the easel was painted in red and blue. There was a red wolf, which had a black imprint of the tattoo Stiles had on his arm, a blue wolf who was bigger than the red wolf and had Derek’s triskelle on it, and a smaller purple wolf, who had a beautiful wolfsbane flower on it. There were splatters of blue, red, and purple all around the wolves. “Wow, this is gorgeous,”

                “You think so?”

                “Uh, yeah. This is amazing, wow, I’m so proud of you,” Mykah ran over to Stiles and jumped into his lap as he hugged her. “In fact, I’m going to hang it in the hall next to the drawing I gave you,” She smiled and smacked a big kiss on his cheek.

                “I love you,” she sat next to him, and put her head in his lap as he stroked her long brown hair. “So, how was your treatment today?”

                “It was fine. Just tired, takes a lot of energy,”

                “To what, fight the cancer?”  
                “Yeah, but mostly to filter out the toxin they’re pumping into my body,” She looked up at Stiles with curious eyes.

                “You do a lot for us, for dad and I, don’t you?”

                “Not really,”

                “I mean, you take so much just to make sure that everything is going to be okay. You try way too hard daddy,”

                “What do you mean by that?”

                “I mean, dad and I will be okay. I just want you to remember that. You don’t have to hurt yourself just for our advantage,” Stiles was taken back a bit by the adultness that his nine year old daughter possessed.

                “Okay,” He squeezed her small frame and picked up part of her hair, putting it into a small braid. “I love you more than anything,” He whispered in her ear, unbraiding her hair as she curled her arms around Stiles’ bicep. She reached her hand up to lay flat on his arm and took a little bit of his pain, Stiles now being able to sit up a little straighter, breathe a little deeper.

                “You know without you and dad, I wouldn’t want to help people and become a nurse or doctor,” Stiles didn’t say anything for a while.

                “I don’t know how to respond to that,”

                “You don’t have to respond. I just wanted to say it,” Stiles was getting more and more impressed with the daughter he and Derek had raised. She couldn’t be more perfect, she was smart, funny, and so talented. Stiles didn’t know if he was ready to leave that, or really anything. Do you know how hard it is to watch your bright eyed daughter try to stay strong but know she’s falling apart inside? Stiles was very aware of it, aware of her crying herself to sleep every night, and yet there was nothing he could do about it, but what are you supposed to do? There’s no parenting book, no rule, no video, no instruction manual that could possibly prepare a parent for this.

                “You’re so strong,” He said, wiping her face with his thumb. She started to sniffle and Stiles saw a single tear drip from the corner of her eye.

                “And what I don’t want to be strong anymore?” She stuttered, her eyes glowing up at Stiles. He wiped away the tear and she shoved her face into his chest.

                “You don’t have to be,” He rubbed circles around her back as she continued to cry. “Do you know who you remind me of?”

                “Who?” Her voice was muffled by Stiles’ shirt.

                “Allison. She was a hunter, Uncle Scott’s first love, but she refused to hunt innocent beings, and she was always strong. She was strong when her aunt was killed, actually, your father killed her awful aunt, and she stayed strong when her mom committed suicide. Hell, she stayed strong when some of our best friends were murdered. She always seemed to know what to do, and even when she died, she went with strength. She admitted to us that she didn’t know what to do most of the time, but she had such a strong personality, and not by a large personality, but a personality that expressed strength, anchorage, being the rock,” She took Stiles’ shirt and wiped her face and looked up at him.

                “She was?”

                “She was. She was gorgeous too, just like you, and smart,” She smiled, the sun seeping through the curtain and shining onto her freckled face. There was silence for a while before she finally said something.

                “How come you always know what to do?”

                “What do you mean?”

                “I mean, just everything you say, it seems like you know what to do,” Stiles chuckled.

                “Honestly, I have no clue what I’m doing at all. I’m just going through the motions, just-.”  
                “Figuring it out?” Stiles smiled.

                “Yeah, I guess we are aren’t we?” Mykah nodded her head and stared at Stiles, those damn eyes. Stiles wondered if this is what Derek thought when Stiles stared at him pleadingly.

                Stiles left the room, going into the study. He pulled a box off of the shelf and sat it on the wooden floor, popping the latches. Inside was an alto sax he had bought a couple of years after he and Derek were married. There was a letter stuffed inside the bell, that he pulled out like he usually did when he was feeling up to read it, and read through it again, trying to get another paragraph further.

                _Stiles,_

_I just wanted to say that I am so proud of you. All of your accomplishments, the ones that are yet to be, you give me life. I bet you’ll make a great father, and I just wanted to tell you I love you. We already know that I’m on my last lifeline, but as long as I get to spend it with my handsome and amazing son, I couldn’t ask for anything more, really. Most parents dream for such an amazing kid, and we were blessed with one, and I always want you to remember that you will always be an amazing person._

Stiles had to stop reading. It was too much for him. He kept trying to get past that first paragraph but sadly failed every time. He folded it back up and stuffed it into the bell, pushing it back on the book case before going back downstairs. He sat on the couch, next to Derek who was flipping through channels.

                “You read it again?” Derek asked, putting the remote of the coffee table?”

                “Yeah. Just, she reminds me so much of her,” Derek knew exactly what he meant. And in Stiles’ opinion, Mykah was just like her.

                “She would have loved her,” Derek said.

                “Yeah, I know,” Stiles sighed


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Horray! I got another chapter done! And I'm actually chugging away at the next one. Already have ideas for the last chapter so be prepared to feel feels, not gonna lie. And this one there's a lot of feels, and crying, so prepare yourself. Not just for this chapter, but basically for the rest of the story. Please feel free to comment or find me on Tumblr. If you inbox me, I might (I will) give you some spoilers (wink wink nudge). Thanks for the support!

**Derek:** Derek woke up and glanced at the time. 6:15. He sighed, knowing that there was still thirty more minutes before Stiles had to get up. He curled himself around Stiles and petted his hair.

                “I’ve been up for an hour now,” Derek stopped and leaned over Stiles so he could see his face. He looked petrified

                “What’s wrong?” Stiles didn’t respond, and Derek crawled his hand under Stiles’ shirt and held his side, taking his pain. Derek felt himself tremble and the pain rip up his spine. “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

                “I could barely speak, and every time I moved it hurt worse, and I have a headache,” Stiles leaned into Derek and clung onto his arm.

                “Are you going to go to work today? You know you don’t have to,”

                “No, I’ll go,” He watched as Stiles forced himself up out of bed, wincing at touching the cold floor. He groaned and shuffled towards the shower. He then heard a large bang and went running to the bathroom.

                “Shit,” Stiles said, rolling from his back to his side as Derek helped him off of the floor.

                “Are you sure you’re okay?”

                “YES. I’M FINE.” Stiles said. “Just, I just need to take a shower, take my medication, and I’ll be fine. Can you get me an Aspirin?”

                “Are you allowed to mix that with any of your other medications?”

                “I’m, I’m not sure, and do you mind checking while I take a shower?”

                “Not at all, if you need anything, just call,” Stiles nodded, wiping the sleep from his eyes. Derek went downstairs and started the coffee. He then got out the large packet of information on the medication and read on it. After about twenty minutes, he figured out that yeah, Aspirin was okay. He took the multiple pill bottles upstairs to Stiles, along with a cup of coffee. He went in the bathroom and sat them on the counter, Stiles shutting the water off and opening the shower door. His tattoo was very visible on his pale skin. Derek traced the area with his fingers as Stiles grabbed a green fluffy towel and dried himself off.

                “I still don’t feel good. Ugh, I haven’t felt this shitty in a while,” Stiles sighed and wrapped the towel around his waist, taking a drink of his coffee and downing a lot of pills. Derek couldn’t tell how many, but he lost count after about 15. “The perks of being a cancer patient,” Stiles offered his mug out before taking the last three pills. Stiles then held the edge of the countertop and put his head down, cueing Derek’s time to leave. He went out of the room and was going to venture back downstairs when he heard footsteps running back to a bed. Derek went and peeked inside Mykah’s room to see that she had been up.

                “Mykah? I know you’re up,”

                “Dad? Is everything okay? I heard banging?”

                “Yeah, daddy just tripped and fell,”

                “Is he okay?”  
                “Yeah, just not feeling the best,” Mykah literally whimpered, looking up at Derek with concerned eyes.

                “He shouldn’t go to work today,” She said. “It’s a long drive, what if something happens?”

                “You know how persistent he is. We’re just going to have to let him go,” Mykah shook her head. “You still have some time before you have to get up, how about you try to sleep in,” She shook her head again.

                “No. I want to see daddy,” She said, getting out of her bed and navigating towards the master bedroom. Derek knocked on the door.

                “Stiles, you decent?”

                “When the fuck do you care anyway?” He said kind of quietly.

                “Your daughter wants to come in,” He heard a sigh.

                “Yeah, I’m decent,” Derek opened the door and saw that Stiles had laid back down on the bed. Mykah immediately jumped onto the bed and curled up next to him, his hand draping over her chest. He looked dead to the world, like he was distanced from everything, and maybe that’s how he usually was when he took his medication, because by the time he got home, he was probably down from his “high”. The high that was helping him go to work, be a father, get out of bed, but not have much emotion.

                “Daddy?” Mykah asked, holding his hand, looking so small in his arms.

                “Yes princess?”

                “You’re not feeling good,” She crawled at his side and took more pain away from him. “You should stay home today. Please. I don’t want you to get into a car accident, or to fall at work, and we know you don’t like the hospital, so please, just stay home,” He nodded and crawled under the sheets, taking his glasses off.

                “Okay. I’ll see you when you get home, alright?” She nodded, staring to head back into her room.

                “Dad, I’m riding the bus today, you need to make sure daddy is okay,” Derek knew there was no arguing with his daughter.

                “Whatever you think,”  
                “I can make myself breakfast, go back to bed with daddy, comfort him,” Derek nodded and watched as Mykah went scurrying back into her room and Derek went back into the master bedroom, holding Stiles who had fallen back asleep (thank god for Stiles’ sake).

                “What am I going to do with you kid?” He chuckled to himself, rustling Stiles’ hair. Stiles groaned and turned to his other side, resting his head on Derek’s shoulder and cuddling into him. “Poor baby is tired,” He petted his side and fell back asleep.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Derek woke up next to Stiles, and by his breathing, he was awake. Derek grabbed Derek’s side and took some more pain and an exhale of relief came from Stiles.

                “What time is your chemo?”

                “3:30,” Stiles groaned. “I don’t’ know if this is the chemo giving me this splitting headache and chest pain or if it’s the medication, or just the cancer, but I’m not feeling so hot,” Derek took his hand and put it on Stiles’ head.

                “You don’t have a fever, and it doesn’t smell like it has spread at all, so I’m going to guess the chemo. I’m smelling a little bit of toxin,” Stiles nodded, curling back up.

                “Can we start on season two of Shameless? We have like three hours,”

                “Yeah, we can do that, I’ve already watched it,”

                “What?” Stiles’ face fell. “I thought we were supposed to watch it together?”

                “I decided to do it when I was bored one day and on hiatus for submitting another chapter of my book due to my publisher going on a camping trip with her son’s Boy Scout troop and getting a horrible case of poison ivy, everywhere. She’s super city, and used it when they ran out of toilet paper on a hike, and then rolled around in it after tripping over a rock,” Stiles was smiling.

                “She sounds like a retard,”

                “She kind of is, when it comes to nature shit,” Stiles nodded and then let out a groan. He rolled over and Stiles patted his back.

                “My whole head is pounding,” Stiles complained. “God, everything hurts. Please, get a gun and shoot me,”

                “I’m not shooting you,”

                “Please put me out of this horrible misery,”

                “Nope,”

                “Don’t you care about me?”

                “As much a person could, but no, you’re not going to die,”

                “You don’t know,”

                “Just stop being a drama queen,”

                “Drama queen? Do I look like Amanda Bynes?”

                “Yeah, you look pretty drugged up,”  
                “Just shut up,” Stiles pushed himself up to sit up and Derek put in the season two disc. They started watching it for a while, not going very far into it without Stiles saying “I ship Mickey and Ian by the way. They are perfect for each other,” and Derek rolling his eyes. This went on for the rest of the afternoon before Derek realized that Mykah would be home alone for a while after school, and immediately called Carol.

                “Carol, hey, it’s Derek,”

                “Oh, hey Derek, what can I do for you?”      

                “Can I ask a favor of you?”

                “Sure, ask away,”

                “Well, Stiles wasn’t feeling good today, and he usually drives himself to his treatments, but I don’t trust him, and I don’t want to leave Mykah home alone, not because I don’t trust her, but because I don’t trust other people, and also I haven’t left her home alone before, and-.”  
                “Derek, I can pick her up, don’t worry about it,”  
                “Thank you so much, I owe you so much,”  
                “Don’t worry about it. Call the school so Mykah doesn’t ride the bus, alright?”

                “Okay, thanks!” Derek hung up and felt a sigh of relief.

                “Do you realize how much work I’m missing right now?” He heard Stiles say, seeming a little bit better.

                “Is that really the only thing you’re concerned of right now?

                “Well, yeah. I’m going to be so behind when I go in tomorrow,”

                “Don’t worry about it. Stress will get you all worked up,” Stiles sighed heavily and threw a pillow at Derek. “Hey, seriously, it’s not helping you, alright?” Stiles rolled his eyes.  “We need to leave soon, so you should probably get dressed and decent,” Stiles groaned as Derek went downstairs and checked his laptop. He read through the couple of emails and saw that he had one from his publisher. She wanted him to start working on the next chapter (which he already had almost done) and it had a loose due date.

                “Okay, let’s go,” Stiles walked down the stairs slowly, holding onto the bannister for support. Derek grabbed Stiles’ arm and supported him to the car.

                “Are you still okay?”

                “Yeah, just a little tired,” Derek nodded and escorted him to the car, starting to drive to the clinic.

                “I love you,”

                “Love you too,” Stiles leaned on Derek’s shoulder. “Well, so far for a shitty day, this wasn’t so bad,” Stiles gave a small smile, Derek noticing that Stiles didn’t have his glasses.

                “Hon, you forget your glasses?”

                “Uh, yeah, forgot to grab them on the way out,”  
                “Don’t you usually like to read?”

                “My headache is so big that I wouldn’t be able to focus on it. Feels like someone’s taking a hammer and breaking my skull,”

                “Well, I could read to you,”

                “What are you going to read to me?”

                “You know how I never let you read the manuscripts to my books until they are completely finished and nearly ready for the printing press?”

                “Yeah,”

                “I’ll give you a sneak peek, that sound good?” Stiles’ smile and eyes widened.

                “I would love that, did you bring your laptop?”

                “I save it on google drive for a reason,” Stiles was still smiling.

                “I’m so glad you know what that is,” They pulled up to the clinic and got out, signing in and waiting. Moments later, Stiles was called back to a chair and they started the treatment up. Derek got settled in one of those plastic hospital chairs and pulled up the story on his phone.       “It’s Not Always Easy by Derek Hale,” Derek started. “Raising a kid isn’t the easiest thing in life. There isn’t an instruction manual like building a shelving unit like when you’re building a family. I have to say, that parenthood is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen, and I am so glad to be a part of it.

                “If I could explain my family in one word, it would be crazy. It’s a controlled chaos. Mornings are filled with making lunch, making sure that your daughter has her hair brushed and all of her homework done, and then running off to school. When I come home, my husband is already gone at his job being Mr. Robot, and I’m writing books. It doesn’t sound that bad, but that was also before we got the worst news dropped on our laps. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard horrible news, and I doubt it will be the last, it’s incredibly crazy how fast something can changed from normal to upside down in literally a matter of minutes. Times with your daughter are replaced with taking your husband to the hospital. Watching your husband teach your daughter songs on her trumpet are replaced with her refusing to go to school to take care of daddy. It’s a hard thing to watch, even in the first couple weeks of the start. That teenager you met and fell in love with who was first diagnosed is now the 29 year old husband, who has a job, a husband, a daughter, and a life. This is the story of our family.

                “The first time I met my husband, we honestly weren’t the best acquaintances. I think when I realized I loved him was when I realized that for once, there was someone who challenged me, and I didn’t think I was okay with it, but I actually liked it a lot. I was always awkward around him, and he was always just awkward, but one day I finally got my head out of my ass and told him the feelings I had for him. At the time, he had these big brown doe eyes, that were the color of his dad’s whiskey bottle that somehow never had an end, and I loved him, more than I thought I could love a person. We dated, and he was mine, and I was his. It was Derek and Stiles against the world, and what a beautiful world that was, and was yet to be.

                “Everything crumbled a little bit when we heard the first news. Stomach cancer, with only two months to live. It was hard news, news that no one is usually able to take, but we kept our hopes up as we watched him transform into a different person, a person who was even skinnier and paler than usual. The bright glow in his eyes faded a little bit, and I still loved him. I didn’t know how the rest of my life would even be livable. Everyone always says that it’s just teenager love, that it usually doesn’t last forever, but I knew that I loved him. He asked me, multiple times if I was going to leave him, saying that it was okay, but I wasn’t leaving. Other people would immediately run the other way, but that sure the hell wasn’t me. After he outlived his two months, I proposed to him, saying that I wanted us to be together forever, even if he wasn’t going to be here. We talked a lot about having kids, even if it wasn’t a lot, we wanted someone to leave a mark of us, we wanted to raise a kid, but when things started to look grimmer, the thought of children got slimmer and slimmer. As time went by, it also looked like Stiles was going too, and it saddened me.

                “When we finally got the news that he was cancer free, it was amazing, it was a rush of ecstasy, and a rush of life. We started planning our wedding, planning to have a kid or two, and planning our lives after he was to graduate high school. Knowing that his life was back wasn’t only amazing for me, but for him. The beautiful amber glow of his eyes returned as I looked into them before kissing him, his cute little smile showing, something that rarely showed in the five months of hell that we went through. And I love him. We bought a house, held our wedding, and my sister got pregnant with our baby. We didn’t want to know what gender the baby was until it was born. And on November 19th, we had Mykah Nicole Hale. We cared for her, teaching her to read music by the age of five, but she already was drawing amazingly at the age of about seven, and she was amazing. She was anything I could have ever dreamed of for a kid. She’s nine now, playing trumpet at a high school level, reading at a college level, and playing lacrosse like Stiles did.

                “The only trait that I have to say I don’t like about her would be that she’s so self-destructive. She thinks that everything is her fault, and I wish she wasn’t so hard on herself. She’s so perfect, and she does so much, but she acts like she doesn’t do enough, but maybe she’ll realize it someday.

                Derek was finished with what he had written down, and Stiles was near to tears. The bag of his chemo was almost finished.

                “That was beautiful,”

                “Ha, no it wasn’t, it isn’t even edited. It’s not very good yet,”

                “Stop, it made this old sap cry,” He hugged Derek and Derek hugged him back, trying not to squeeze too hard on his small frame.  A nurse came in and unhooked Stiles from his wretched machine and they headed home. Stiles still didn’t look like he was feeling the best, but he wasn’t as shaky as he was earlier. “I want to go out to eat,” Stiles said, when they got to the car. Derek put the key in the ignition and then started to head over to Carol’s house.

                “Where do you want to go?”

                “Addison’s. Invite Scott and Kira to come with us. I’m in the mood for some wings, trivia, and beer,” Derek smiled and drove up to Carols’ house, using the address that she had texted him earlier. They pulled up to a casual suburban house and knocked on the door. Carol came to the door momentarily and Derek saw Mykah and Kara running circles around the house.

                “Keep them occupied?”

                “Yeah, but don’t worry, I made them do their homework first,” She gave a humble smile and Derek took a step into the house.

                “She wasn’t too trouble, was she?”

                “Not at all,”

                “Thanks for doing me this favor again, I owe you one,”

                “Oh, whatever, it’s not that big of a deal,” She waved her hand. Mykah went to the door with her backpack and stood behind Carol.

                “Is daddy okay?”

                “He’s fine honey, just a rough day. He’s in the car,” That was enough invitation for her. She went running outside and jumped in the car, Derek glancing backwards and seeing Mykah jumping on to Stiles’ lap.

                “She really loves you two, doesn’t she?”

                “I would say so,” Derek chuckled. “She refuses to leave Stiles’ side ever since we confirmed his relapse,”

                “I know, she has a good family trait, like most packs of animals,”

                “Like wolves,”  
                “Exactly like wolves. You guys aren’t werewolves, are you?” Derek laughed.

                “Of course not, they don’t exist, and wolves in California? They haven’t been here for over sixty years,” She smiled. “Well, we better get going, get Stiles home,”

                “Alright, see you tomorrow,” Derek walked away from the door and sighed. That was a close one. He got in the car and started it up, Mykah back to her spot in the backseat.

                “You smell better daddy,” Mykah said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

                “I do, do I?”       

                “You smell like you feel better,” Mykah corrected, putting her small little hand on Stiles’ head and drawing out a little bit of pain.

                “I called Scott and Kira and they’re meeting us over there,” Derek said, slightly turning his head. He could practically hear Stiles’ head nod. He heard some shuffling on the radio, and then heard the ding that meant that Stiles had hooked his phone up to the Bluetooth.

                “Derek, you have to listen to this song,” Stiles said, tapping away on his phone. He played [Centuries by Fall Out Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBr7kECsjcQ) and Derek smiled.

                “I’ve heard this song before,”

                “I know,” Derek remembered when the song had first dropped, Stiles screaming like a girl and jumping up and down in the air like a child, and listening to it on loop for days until he had the words down.

                “If only Fall Out Boy was like Beyoncé and could drop a new album out of the blue,” He had said that day. Stiles had always had a good taste in music, even if it was from unknown artists or just covers of popular songs, Stiles always had a way of picking good music. If you were to ask him the genre he listens to, he would say all. And he does. He had quite a variety when you look through his playlist, and it’s not even mainly one genre, and has no patterns (other than the fact that when they’re in the car he only plays Bastille, Panic! At the Disco, Imagine Dragons, OneRepublic, Fall Out Boy, and also Blink 182).

                “I was going through my phone yesterday and I forgot about it, so I thought, ‘hey, Derek would appreciate this,’”

                “I did,”

                “I appreciate it too daddy,”

                “Well, it’s good my daughter knows what good music is, I thought this world had gone to crap,”

                “It kind of has,”

                “Yeah, we all realize, mostly due to the fact of a recession, a whole we still haven’t been able to pull ourselves out of,” Mykah made a face. She had never known what the recession was, nor would she ever feel the effects of its awful wrath. Derek sighed

                “People were out of jobs and the poverty level was incredibly high,”

                “Oh,” Derek found a place to park and they got out of the car. “Daddy, can I have your iPad so I can play trivia? I like it better that way,”

                “Sure thing princess,” Stiles handed his iPad over and they walked inside. They got a high table and Mykah started to play trivia.

                “It’s history trivia round!” She said excitedly, tapping away. They looked up at the TV to see that her username was Hale, and so far she had a perfect score. Derek ordered a beer and some fried pickles for an appetizer, and Stiles ordered a long island iced tea. After a couple of minutes, Scott and Kira walked in, Scott having a baggy t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants (probably coming from work) and Kira wearing a cute anchor sweater with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of bright red leggings with her hair in a high pony tail and converse. Scott sat down, flagging down the waitress for a beer, Kira ordering a diet Pepsi.

                “So, how’s the job been?” Derek asked Scott, taking a drink from his glass.

                “Good I guess. There was a little boy who got in a horrible car accident and just got out of a coma, but he still can’t walk, and they’re doing physical therapy with the kid, and his hopes are just so high, he has such an optimistic mind, it’s adorable,” Scott smiled as the waitress put a glass in front of him.

                “That’s so cute,” Derek glanced at Mykah and imagined if that was her, how he would live his life, and he couldn’t do it. He could barely do it with Stiles.

                Stiles got up and went to the bathroom, leaving Scott to ask the question that he knew was burning in the back of his throat.

                “So, how’s Stiles,”

                “He’s, he’s not too bad. He’s kind of having a bad day today. He fell,”

                “Fell?”

                “Yeah, just slipped on the floor, and could barely get up,”

                “That’s awful, you should have called,”

                “You know that’s not what he would have wanted us to do, you know how he acts. I barely convinced him to not go to work today, and he kept complaining about not feeling good, but he didn’t smell worse, possibly even better,”

                “It’s probably from the chemo trying to exit his system. How many more treatments does he have?”

                “I think three, maybe four. It’s a short round this time, but they are also trying to find if it’s operable, well, that’s what Stiles said when he had another appointment with the cancer doctor,”

                “Well, if he needs anything, or you, don’t hesitate to call me or Kira, or even Melissa, alright?”

                “Okay, I promise,” Derek glanced back over at Mykah who was teaming up with Kira on a new round and beating her ass.

                “Hey Kira, let’s play a drinking game. Every time you lose a question, you take a drink,” Scott pushed his beer towards her. “Too bad she can’t get drunk,” Kira punched Scott hard, hard enough to push him off of his chair and onto the floor four feet below.

                “Okay, I deserved that one,”

                “No shit asshole,” Scott rubbed his arm and Stiles came back, continuing to chug along at his beer. Kira went back to playing trivia with Mykah and Stiles was starting to bob a bit.

                “Whoa, Stiles honey, that’s your second beer, don’t you want to slow down?” Stiles shook his head. “Do you hurt,” Stiles didn’t reply. Derek put his hand on Stiles’ arm and felt an immediate rush of pain. He groaned as he took it from Stiles, panting when he finished. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

                “It’s just been a bad day. The beer made it better,”  
                “Do you want to go home?” Stiles shook his head.

                “I don’t want to ruin it for everyone else,”

                “Stiles, you won’t, don’t worry about it,” Scott joined in. “If you’re not feeling good, then go home and rest, it’s okay, we understand, and we’ve already been here like an hour,” Stiles looked tired.

                “Daddy, you need to get some rest,” Mykah said, wiping his cheek with her thumb. He nodded.

                “Okay,” They quickly paid the bill and left, Stiles sitting quietly in the front seat.

                “What’s wrong?” Derek asked, as they were coming home. “What do you need?”

                “I-I don’t know. I just don’t feel good. Haven’t felt like this in years,” Stiles winced and grabbed his side. Derek heard Mykah whimper and throw her seatbelt off, sitting on Stiles’ lap and taking his pain.

                “Thank you princess,” Mykah sat with Stiles the rest of the car ride home, taking his pain when he needed it, nuzzling her head underneath his arm. Derek’s wolf inside was crawling around, wanting to get out and comfort him, but he couldn’t, because he was driving. He finally pulled up to the house, and he could sense Stiles’ exhaustion. Mykah got out of the car and Derek carried Stiles inside, Stiles wrapping his legs around Derek’s hips as he thumped up the stairs and put him on the bed. He then changed Stiles’ clothes and put him to bed.           

                “There, isn’t that better?” Stiles nodded softly as he turned to his side. Derek crawled in bed with him, holding Stiles in his arm as he felt him finally drift off to sleep. Derek sighed and quickly went downstairs, looking at the calendar. Stiles had three more treatments left before they were going to take another PET scan. Derek made a note in his phone to call the doctor tomorrow. He saw Mykah was in the living room, watching Breaking Bad on Netflix (when did she start watching Breaking Bad? Whatever, Derek didn’t have the time or energy to figure it out).

                “Is daddy going to be okay?”

                “I don’t know. He just has a couple more treatments, and we may be able to figure out what’s wrong, alright?”

                “Okay,” Derek went back upstairs to see Stiles, his fist grabbing the sheets. Derek could hear Stiles clenching his teeth, and the small groan in the back of his throat. Derek sat on the bed and held his side, taking some more of his pain, and Stiles’ muscles relaxed. Derek got back into bed, putting his hand on Stiles’ side to catch the pain when it got unbearable for him.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles ended up not going to work the rest of the week, but he finished his chemo, so he begged Derek not to call the doctor, thinking it might have been the chemicals in the chemo. The people in the chemo clinic gave Stiles another “Purple Heart”, which he put in the attic with the other one, not wanting to see it, and also asked how long it took for the chemo to be completely out of his system. They replied with a few days, so Stiles told Derek he could call the doctor after three days of not feeling good, yet only it was two days and Derek woke up to Stiles crying, balled up inside the covers. Derek touched him and felt so much pain he was knocked to the ground. He picked Stiles up and quickly put a pair of sweatpants over his boxers and carried the man downstairs.

                “Dad, what’s wrong?” Mykah asked from the stairs.

                “I’m taking daddy to the hospital, okay? Just stay here, please?” Mykah looked like she wanted to protest, but didn’t and replied with a small okay. Derek threw Stiles into the Camaro (because it was faster), and put his seatbelt on. It was pretty early in the morning, so Derek drove like hell to Beacon Hills Memorial, calling Melissa on the way there to warn her. When he got there, he ran inside with Stiles to see Melissa and a team of nurses with a gurney. He put Stiles on the gurney and watched them roll him away from Derek. Derek wanted to protest, wanted to go running towards him to comfort him, but there was nothing he could do. He started pacing the waiting room and then finally sat down, putting his head in his hands.

                “Derek,” Melissa came over and sat next to him, rubbing his back. Derek started to cry, wiping his eyes with the sleeves of the sweatshirt he grabbed on his way out the door.

                “I should have called earlier, he was in so much pain this whole week, but we thought it was just the chemo, and he didn’t smell any different, and,” Derek let out a sob and Melissa grabbed Derek’s chin and pushed it up.

                “Derek, this isn’t your fault. This is no one’s fault. At least he’s here now, okay? He should be fine. Scott’s shift is in a couple of hours, and I called him and told him to pick up Mykah, and he called the house to tell her. Everything’s going to be okay,” Derek started to calm down a little bit, being a bit thankful that he was the only person in the waiting room. “And they’re taking good care of Stiles right now, alright?” Derek nodded and calmed himself down. He was tired, but he couldn’t get himself to sleep, so for the next hour, he sat there, his stomach churning and hands shaking.

                “Mr. Hale?” Derek stood up and walked over to the doctor.

                “Okay, Stiles is stable right now, but he was in a lot of pain. We did an MRI and the cancer doesn’t look like it has spread anywhere but it’s hard to tell due to the size of the mass on his rib. We believe that removing it is the best idea currently, and we want to do it as soon as possible,” Derek nodded.

                “Okay, and how soon is as soon as possible?”

                “After your given okay, we’ll have him under in a matter of minutes,” Derek put a hand to his head, and tried to think. If that was the best case scenario, then he needed to do it, but he also didn’t know the risks. He looked over at the counter to see Melissa, who he gave a look at to help him with his answer.

                “Derek, it will be better for Stiles, they can only stop his pain for so long,” Derek nodded.

                “I give my okay,” He finally said. The doctor nodded.

                “It’ll be a long procedure, but we’ll tell you as soon as he’s out of surgery,”

                “Can I see him, before he goes back please?”

                “I don’t see why not,” Derek followed the doctor back to a room to which Stiles was currently inhabiting. He was very still, but not asleep. Derek walked over and held his hand, feeling Stiles squeeze back.

                “Derek?” He said quietly, leaning in for a hug. Derek hugged him as hard as he could, fisting the hospital gown on his small frame.

                “They told you what’s going on?” Stiles nodded.

                “I just now tried to be awake to hopefully see you before I went,” Derek hugged Stiles a little tighter and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

                “You’re going to do great honey, okay?” Stiles nodded. “And I’ll be right here when you get back. Mykah and I will be right here waiting for you,” A nurse came and put something into Stiles’ IV and asked Derek to wrap up his goodbyes.

                “I love you,”

                “I love you more,” He gave Stiles one last hug before he saw them wheel Stiles away from him, Derek feeling his heart fall a little bit. He walked back to the waiting room and sat down, trying to refocus his mind, but it was impossible. He looked and saw Scott and Mykah walk in the doors, Mykah immediately running to Derek and burying her face in his shirt.

                “Is daddy okay? Where is he?”

                “They’re going to remove the mass of cancer he has, he just went back,” She wrapped her hands tighter around his neck and Derek looked at Scott, who shook his head.

                “Dammit,” he said, his face falling a bit. “I’m sorry, I should have gotten here earlier, but I wanted to wait a little bit, and I didn’t know the situation, and I’m sorry Derek,” Derek cut him off.

                “Scott, it’s fine, I literally just made the decision, okay? I didn’t even know. All we can do is wait. They didn’t know exactly how long it was going to take, but it was going to take a while,” Derek sighed, looking at the time on his phone. It was early, and a Friday. God, Mykah needed to go to school today. “Mykah, you don’t mind missing school today, do you?” She shook her head.

                “I need to see daddy,”

                “You realize that when daddy comes back he’s going to be asleep, right?”

                “Yeah, but I need to be there, make sure he’s okay,” Derek nodded.

                “I called John and he’s freaking out, but he can’t get off for a couple of hours, but he’ll be here, and I also called Lydia, who’s also freaking out a little bit, but I convinced her not to come unless something happened, but for now we thought the situation was under control,” Derek nodded, not really listening to Scott. He wanted to, but his mind was swimming.

                Mykah brought Stiles’ iPad and had Derek read a little bit of The Real True Diary of a Part-Time Indian to her, and it calmed him down a lot. He finished up a chapter and closed the Kindle app, getting up to stretch. It had been hours, and Derek was dog tired. Melissa came from the hallway and tapped Derek on the shoulder.

                “Stiles is out of surgery, and it went fine. He’s resting now, but you can go ahead and go back there,” Mykah started to put the iPad back in its case and joined Derek in following Melissa to Stiles’ room. Once they got there, they saw that he was hooked up to oxygen and a few machines, but it wasn’t too overwhelming. Derek pulled up a chair like he usually did and held his hand, rubbing circles with his thumb. The doctor came in and glanced at Derek.

                “Mr. Hale?”

                “Yes?”

                “Well, as you can see, Stiles went through the surgery fine. We removed the mass, but while in there we found some small touches of cancer in his lungs. Once Stiles recuperates, we’re going to start thinking of treatment,” Derek nodded and thanked him, looking back at Stiles.

                “So, it’s in his lungs now?” Derek nodded and Mykah shook her head. “Did the chemo even work? It was making him sick and hurt, and it didn’t even work?” She shouted angrily.

                “Sometimes it doesn’t Mykah, there’s nothing they can do about it,” She started to huff and she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were bright yellow. She started growing her claws out and she let out a roar. Derek quickly grabbed her as she sunk her claws into his arms, and he let her, his blood going everywhere. He roared at her and she continued to claw him, but now added her fangs and started biting his shoulders. Derek glanced and watched as Scott walked in. He closed the door and bellowed out a loud roar, changing Mykah back to her normal state. Scott grabbed some paper towels and started to clean up the blood.

                “I’m sorry dad,” Mykah apologized. Scott threw the paper towels away.

                “Well, I only came here to see how you guys were doing, so…” Scott left and Derek sighed.

                “It’s okay,” Derek heard rustling and saw Stiles starting to wake up. He groaned and looked towards Derek, Derek sitting back down.

                “Hi,” Stiles said quietly.

                “Hi,”

                “I missed you,” Stiles smiled. “How did it go?”

                “Well, there’s good and bad news,”

                “Give me the bad news first,”

                “You have traces of cancer in your lungs,” Stiles nodded.

                “Okay, what about the good news?”

                “Good news, they got the tumor,”

                “So, I’m basically right where I started?”

                “Yeah,”

                “That’s not so bad, I think,”

                “I don’t know, we’re going to have to schedule an appointment with the oncologist and figure all of this out,” Stiles nodded.

                “This thing is annoying,” Stiles pointed to the cannula in his nose and sighed. He looked to the other side of the room to see Mykah. “Mykah, sweetie, come here,” Mykah walked over slowly and then started to curl up next to Stiles. Stiles rustled her hair and kissed her forehead. “Shouldn’t you be in school?” She laughed.

                “Probably,”

                “Wasn’t today the first day of your gifted program?”

                “Yeah, but they’ll be plenty of time go to that next week, it’s whatever,” Stiles laughed at her comment.

                “Speaking of, when do I get to get out of this place?” Derek shrugged. “I hope I get to eat something, I’m starving,” Derek was so happy that Stiles was back to normal, well, mostly. Considering for the past week he had been a zombie that would barely talk, eat, or act human, he was glad that he was suggesting to all three. Derek kissed Stiles’ hand and rubbed his shoulder.

                “God, you scared the shit out of me, do you realize that?”

                “Yeah, I’m sorry,”

                “Try not to do that again,” Stiles gave a goofy smile, his eyes lighting up.

                “I’ll do my best, but no promises,” In that moment did John decide to come in, sighing in relief that his son was now awake.

                “Goddammit Stiles, you scared the shit out of me kid,” He said, grabbing Stiles’ other hand. Stiles kept a neutral face. “Are you okay?”

                “Yeah, I mean, I think. The cancer spread to my lungs, but they got the original mass out,” John sighed.

                “I can live with that. I nearly killed over when Derek called me, you know,”

                “I’m sorry,” He hugged Stiles and John sighed.

                “You’re okay, that’s all that matters,” John looked back at Derek and gave a small nod. “You know Derek, without you Stiles probably would be dead. You keep this kid from being so stubborn,” Derek nodded.

                “Well, I do my best,” Derek gave a small smile and then John came over and hugged Derek.

                “I thank god every day that he found you,” John whispered in his ear. Derek’s heart melted. He never knew that’s what John thought of him. “Well, I have to go back to work, it’s my lunch shift right now and I ran over here to try to check on what was wrong, but I’ll be back by later tonight,” Derek watched Stiles give a weak wave as John headed out the door. Once he was gone, Mykah took her rightful spot cuddled in Stiles’ side on the bed, drifting to sleep.

                “Are you feeling okay?” Stiles nodded.

                “Just a bit tired. Better than I was earlier though,” Derek squeezed his hand tighter. “I don’t want Mykah to stay the night,” Derek knew why he didn’t want her to. Because he spent a year of his life sitting in the hospital, and he didn’t want her to do the same.

                “Alright. Oh shit, that reminds me, I forgot to call the school and tell them Mykah wouldn’t be at school, hold up,” Derek pulled out his phone and called the school.

                “Hello, Mountain Springs Elementary?”

                “Hello, this is Derek Hale, Mykah Hale’s father, and we’ve had a family emergency and she won’t be at school today, I’m sorry for not calling earlier,”

                “It’s perfectly fine, Thank you for calling, we’ll see you next week, yeah?”

                “Yes. Okay, thank you,” Derek hung up and sighed relief. Stiles adjusted himself in the bed. “Do you want me to get her up?”

                “No, it’s not her, just can’t get comfortable. Side hurts,” Derek carefully put his hand on Stiles’ side, pulling a little bit of pain out and Stiles relaxed a little. “I’m going to take a nap, I’m tired, and I want to sleep in our bed, it’s comfier. Will you bring my pillow tomorrow?”

                “Definitely,” Stiles started to fall asleep and Derek put in headphones and started to daze off himself.

 

                                ~~~*~~~

                Derek woke up to Mykah pulling at his shirt. Derek groaned and looked around the room.

                “What’s up princess?” She pointed over to Stiles and his eyes were closed, and he was silent. “What’s wrong?”

                “He’s asleep. He’s actually asleep,” She said, amazed.

                “It’s because he’s on a lot of pain killers and they make him tired,”

                “Still, he hasn’t slept this good in a week,” Derek checked the time on his phone and saw it was already 4:00.

                “Okay, we’re going to head home, alright?”

                “What?”

                “I’m going to head back here, but daddy doesn’t want you to stay here,”

                “But I want to stay here,”

                “He wants you to be a kid and go do stuff. He never got that when his mom was in the hospital, and she read a letter from her later that she wished that he wouldn’t’ve spent so much time there, and he thinks the same,” Mykah opened her mouth and was prepared to argue, but then shut it again.

                “Okay,” She finally groaned. “Fine.” Derek grabbed his keys and quickly wrote a note to Stiles on the hospital stationary, slipping it under his hand. They got in the Camaro and Derek sighed. The car still smelled like pain from earlier that morning. He got a bottle of Axe from the glove compartment and sprayed the car. “God, it stinks in here,” Mykah said after he sprayed it.

                “Sorry,” He backed out of the parking lot and made his way to the highway. After a while, Mykah finally spoke.

                “So, what was she like?”

                “Who?”  
                “Grandma. What was she like?” Derek shrugged.

                “I never met her,”

                “You, you didn’t?”

                “No, she died when daddy was about eleven, twelve, around there. I didn’t know daddy at that time,”

                “Well, what did daddy tell you about her?”

                “She was artistic. And musical. She had eyes, just like yours, and a personality like yours. She was always courageous and adventurous, always wanting to do something out of the box. I guess she was always good at cooking too. That’s all I know. You should ask daddy when we see him tomorrow,” She stayed silent for a while, before asking another question.

                “What about grandma and grandpa on your side? What were they like?”

                “Well, they had the ability to turn into full wolves. I can kind of do it, and I’ll show you a little more when you get older, try to teach you to do it. But they were normal, nothing was too out of the ordinary for them. My mom made the best macaroni. It was so good, and she used to make this chocolate cake on my birthday, and I don’t know how she made it, and I wish we still had the recipe because it was to die for. My dad used to always fix up this old Camaro he had in the garage, and that’s why I have a Camaro now. He was a doctor though, and my mom took care of the pack. She used to write books too. Mostly poems that were put in either big poem books with other people’s works or in her own book, it depended,” Derek loved to reminisce of what his childhood used to be. He could practically taste the cake in his mouth. Even though Stiles’ was good, it would never be as good as his mom’s, even though Stiles would get close, really, really close, but never quite to the acquired taste.

                “Do you wish that they would have lived?”

                “Of course I do, but without any of the events, I wouldn’t’ve met Stiles, and we wouldn’t’ve had you,” Mykah smiled, her eyes brightening, brightening like a star.

                They got back to the house and Derek parked the car inside, Mykah scampering upstairs.

                “What do you want for dinner?”

                “Mac and cheese,”  
                “Hamburger mac and cheese?”

                “Yeah, yeah that’s what I want,”

                “Okay,” Derek started to boil the big noodles that she liked and started melting Velveeta (which was Stiles’ secret recipe) and also started to cook up some hamburger. He turned on the small TV in the kitchen and switched it to AMC where they were having a Breaking Bad marathon. He watched the episode where Walt is watching other people buy stuff to make meth with at the hardware store and suggesting other things, and decided to get back in the business. Derek continued to stir at the noodles, adding in the cheese and hamburger until it was completely done. He then put a little spice to it into it and scooped out a plate for Mykah. He didn’t even have to call her, she came down from smelling the food. She sat at the bar, in her normal seat and started to eat at it.

                “Do you think daddy is doing okay?”

                “I bet he’s doing fine, don’t worry too much about him, okay?”

                “Okay,” She continued to eat.

                “I just really want to go and see him,”

                “Baby, just let him heal, okay? Too much excitement will make his healing process become even slower than it already is,”

                “It’s taking so long, why?”

                “He’s only human,” She snorted at that.

                “Why did you marry a human?”

                “Well, a mate is anyone, wolf or not, man, woman, tall, short, you don’t really choose who to love, it’s a chemical reaction that happens inside your body and you love a person. Then, there’s love like Scott loves you, and like I love you, and like daddy loves you, and how I like daddy that never goes away,”

                “Why does Uncle Scott love me so much?”

                “You’re one of the first members of his pack, and even though you’re ours, you’re also his, and he’s your alpha,”

                “Weren’t you an alpha?”

                “Yeah, I was an alpha,”

                “What happened?”

                “I gave Aunt Cora my power when she got sick and was about to die, and I wasn’t a very good alpha, I made some dumb choices, people got killed because of me,”

                “That’s not good,”

                “No it is not, but I helped Uncle Scott become a true alpha, which he did without killing anyone, and he’s a good alpha, isn’t he?”

                “Yeah, I would say he is,” Derek smiled and ate a bite off of her plate. “Hey, hands off,” She growled at him and he growled back louder.

                “I love you,”

                 “I love you too,”

                “Now, I’m trusting you to stay home alone tonight, alright? I’m going to go visit daddy, make sure he’s doing okay and I’ll be back kind of late. I also need to drop by Uncle Scott’s house. No having people over, don’t answer the door unless it’s me, Uncle Scott, Deaton, Aunt Kira, Aunt Cora, Aunt Lydia, Uncle Jackson, Isaac, Ethan, or Danny, alright?”

                “Okay, I won’t,”  
                “Don’t burn down the house, don’t invite people over, don’t order pizza, don’t trash the house, and don’t make dumb decisions,”

                “Dad, I’ll be fine, alright?”  
                “If you follow all of my rules, I’ll talk to your dad about getting you a cell phone,”

                “No. Really?” She said excitedly.

                “Yes, definitely,” She was smiling really big.

                “Okay, well, there’s a lot on the line here, so you can especially trust me. If you need anything call, alright?” Derek chuckled.

                “Alright, I’ll see you later, yeah?”

                “Yeah,”

                “I love you?”

                “I love you more!”

                “Really? How much?”

                “To the moon and back 300 times,”

                “What if I said affection couldn’t be physically measured?”  
                “I would say that’s true but it doesn’t mean I don’t love you any less,” She smacked a kiss on his cheek.

                “Be careful,” Derek waved his daughter off and locked the door, getting back into the Camaro and driving back to the hospital. He finally took the exit to the hospital, getting all of Stiles’ stuff that he needed, including his work tablet, his iPad, his laptop, and his phone (and also all of the chargers for them). He carried them in a bag up to Stiles’ room. When he walked in, they were emptying his catheter and Stiles looked pissed off. They dumped it out in the sink and then returned it back to its original place and then the nurse left.

                “That seemed like fun,” Derek said slightly sarcastically as he put Stiles’ phone in his lap.

                “Yeah, I love pissing in a bag, it’s my favorite thing in the world,” He deadpanned, checking his phone. “God, look at all of these notifications and emails. I’m never going to get caught up with work,” Stiles scrolled intensely and Derek took his phone away.

                “No. You are not allowed to get stressed out. This is a stress-free environment, and Charlie and Luanne already said that they would tag team on some of your projects,”

                “I know, just, I need to get something done,”

                “I have an idea; healing,”  
                “Derek, shut up you know what I mean,”

                “Stiles,”

                “UGH DEREK,”  
                “Stiles, you are currently in the hospital, with oxygen, and not allowed to leave your bed and yet you are still asking to do something? C’mon, the less stubborn you are, the faster you’ll be home,”

                “Derek, we’ve discussed my hatred for hospitals, so fuck you,” Derek gave him a look and Stiles rolled his eyes.

                “The old horse never learns new tricks, does he?”  
                “Nope. Still stubborn as a mule,” Stiles crossed his arms and Derek groaned loudly. “Now can I have my phone back? I just want to play games on it,” Derek quickly turned off the mobile data and handed it back to him. “Goddammit Derek, you fucker,”

                “You weren’t going to play games on it,”

                “Derek,” Stiles whined. “I need to get some of these projects done,”

                “Well, according to this email,” Derek pointed on the screen. “They already finished everything for you,” Stiles groaned louder. “Did you bring my sketchbook, pencils, anything?”

                “Here’s your iPad and a stylus, go nuts,”  
                “You know it’s not the same thing,”

                “I’m very aware it’s not the same thing, I’m sorry I didn’t get it for you,”

                “God, being professionally sick sucks ass,”

                “Being the babysitter for a professionally sick person sucks ass,”

                “There’s a lot of ass sucking here, isn’t there,”

                “I don’t know who’s going to do it, I’m not an ass sucker and you’re not in the health to do it,”

                “We should ask Melissa to do it,”

                “Definitely, not like she would slap us across the face or anything,”

                “Definitely not,” They laughed and Derek sat on the bed with Stiles. He combed through his hair and put kissed on his forehead. “They don’t have a time for when I’m going to be out of here,” Stiles stated, sighing.

                “Could be worse,” Stiles gave Derek a deadpanned look.

                “I just want to be home. This place is sucking the life out of me, wait, scratch that, the cancer is sucking the life out of me,”  
                “You don’t know that,”

                “I know my body Derek,” Derek didn’t want to say anything. He didn’t want to comment on how Stiles looked paler than usual, or how he didn’t look right, or seem right. “I know what you’re thinking,”  
                “What am I thinking?”

                “Why do you always do that?”

                “Do what?”

                “Do that, that thing where you question everything because you want me to say it,” Derek didn’t respond. “I still know what you’re thinking,”

                “No you don’t,”  
                “You’re just in denial,”  
                “Then say it,”  
                “You think I look like I’m dying,” Derek started biting his bottom lip, drawing some blood out of it. “You make this face, I can’t really describe it, but it’s obvious it’s what you’re thinking, it’s how I’m feeling, it’s how everyone else is seeing me, a dead body that hasn’t died yet, decomposing before it’s put in the ground. It’s like suicide, not really accidental, but not really on purpose suicide,”

                “You are not comparing this to suicide and you are not going to die,” Derek said sternly. He grabbed Stiles’ chin and turned his head to face him. “Look at me, you have to understand that with a piss poor attitude, nothing good will happen, so you need to square up and figure it out, because I can’t do this for you,” Stiles had an expressionless face as a tear dropped from the corner of his eye.

                “I just don’t want to die Derek, but I can see myself slowly withering away, from you, from Scott, from my dad, from Mykah, from everyone and do you know how it feels? I say all the time I feel like death, but now I actually feel like I’m looking at it. This past week, I wouldn’t even consider myself conscious. I barely moved, and everything took too much energy, and I just, I couldn’t do it,” Stiles was now crying a lot. Derek wiped the tears as they fell, as Stiles buried his head in Derek’s shirt and sobbed.

                “No one wants you to die, okay?”  
                “Sometimes you don’t always get what you want do you?”

                “No, no you don’t,” Derek agreed. “But it doesn’t mean we can’t be optimistic. You’re Stiles Stilinski Hale, who always manages to get dumped in shit and come out smelling like a rose. Everything will be okay,”

                “You don’t know that,”  
                “Yeah, you’re right, I don’t know that, and I also don’t know if tomorrow I’ll get shot by a hunter and die, or if the sun will collide with earth and will explode, or if Yellowstone National Park will erupt and kill all of us, the world is full of uncertainty, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t spend our lives in fear that something won’t be okay, you have to give the universe a little credit, a little trust,” Stiles wiped a few more of his tears and nodded.

                “I’m giving you a little trust,” Stiles spoke softly, his voice still a little cracked. “I’m going to trust you, okay? I’m going to trust you that everything will be okay, and I’m going to trust you that this won’t turn out to be complete shit,”

                “It won’t be,”

                “And, I mean, I lived past my deadline last time, and I don’t have a deadline yet,”  
                “You don’t have a deadline,” Derek corrected. “And in my opinion, you can still keep things that are out of date. You don’t throw away good milk on the date just because it says you’re supposed to. Hell, I’ve gotten milk that’s lasted 3 weeks after the date and still been fine,”

                “So what am I? Outdated milk?”  
                “If I were in this situation, I would be proud to be the outdated milk,”

                “That’s so fucking weird. God, you’re such a weirdo sometimes,”

                “C’mon Stiles, be my expired milk,”  
                “Okay, fine,” Stiles laughed. “I’ll be your expired milk. Can I be something, I don’t know, a little less disgusting? I hate expired milk. Had some at school and threw up my life’s existence in the trash can,”  
                “You can be whatever you want,”

                “Can I be batman?”

                “I’ll paint your face like batman if you want me to,”  
                “Well, maybe later, when I have a lack of machines on my face,”

                “Might be a good plan, I don’t know,”  
                “So, when can I leave again?”  
                “You just got here,”

                “Well, it feels like I’ve been here for years,”  
                “Well, your internal clock needs a little tuning, now doesn’t it,” Stiles smirked.

                “I missed you,”

                “I missed you too,” Stiles looked into Derek’s eyes, a few flecks of gold popping out. Derek loved Stiles’ eyes.

                “Do you remember when I asked you a question, and you never gave me the answer to it?”

                “You mean like ten years ago?”

                “Yeah, it’s when we had first moved into the house, and everything was going pretty well and I asked you what you would do if I ever died. What would you do Derek?” The room was silent. So silent you could hear a pin drop. He knew what he would do, but he never wanted to actually tell him about it. That’s not something you would normally want to discuss with your husband, especially at a time like this. Derek looked back at Stiles’ doe eyes and his pleading face and sighed, giving in.

                “Well, first I would cry. I would scream at the world, God, the doctors, everyone, about how it wasn’t fair and how you were a good man. I wouldn’t talk to anyone, and I would probably stay in the house, not leave very often. To be honest, I wouldn’t be a very good dad for a while. I might drink, I know I would fall into depression, but I wouldn’t find someone else if that’s what you meant. I would think about you every day, I would write to you, make sure everyone knew you, make sure that everyone remembered how you were such an amazing father, an amazing person, and a fighter. I’ll dedicate the rest of my books to you that I will ever write, I’ll leave all of your stuff the way it was so maybe I can anticipate you walking through that door again to kiss me and for me to fall head over heels for you like I did when we were teenagers, and I won’t stop loving you, even though you may not be here, I’ll still say I love you present tense every night, because you’re everything to me, and nothing will ever change that. I’ll kiss your picture every night, I’ll talk to you every night even if you can’t hear me, and I’ll hang all of your art all over the house,” Stiles was smiling through the whole rant that Derek had devised. “But we won’t have to worry about it, because you’re strong, and you’ll outlive us all,”

                “Derek,” Stiles grabbed Derek and pulled him close to him, shoving his lips against his. Stiles grabbed a tuft of Derek’s hair and yanked him even closer, Derek still hesitant to get too close and hurt him. “It’s okay, just stay on this side,” Stiles panted between kisses. Derek stayed on his side and started to run his hands down Stiles’ as Stiles flicked his tongue inside Derek’s mouth. “I love you,”  
                “I love you more,”

                “I love you forever,”

                “I love you for ten thousand forevers,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Derek never liked coming home to an empty bed. Being away for a week and staying in a hotel he was fine, but coming home, to his house, which was also Stiles’, with no one else to fill the other space next to him in their king sized bed, was what he couldn’t deal with. He would sit in the middle, cuddle up on Stiles’ side into a ball, hell, he would do basically whatever he could to make it feel like Stiles was there, but he wasn’t. It kind of helped when Mykah would stay in his bed with him, but it still wasn’t the same. He wanted Stiles there, his inner wolf clawed at his insides to make it happen, but Derek sighed and rolled over onto his face in the bed, wishing he couldn’t smell Stiles to remind him of how alone he was in that big room. He finally gave up. He went into Mykah’s room and scooped her small body up from her bed and carried her into his room (pillow included). She snuggled up next to Derek and he kissed her forehead. She awoke, not loudly, but still audibly.

                “How was daddy?”

                “He was the same. Pretty energetic, but about the same,”  
                “He’s not better?” Derek smiled in the dark at her lack of understanding.

                “Baby, it takes a long time for humans to heal. For us, days at the most, for them, weeks to months to years,” Derek could feel the anxiety coming off of her when he said that.

                “He could be there for years?”

                “No, he’s not going to be there that long, a couple weeks at the most,”

                “A couple of weeks?”

                “Yeah,”

                “That’s a long time,”

                “Believe me when I say it’s longer for him. You know he hates hospitals,”

                “Well, I wouldn’t want needles poking my skin and being in pain all the time,” She shrugged. “I knew he was hurting this past week, a lot. I took some of his pain, and I wanted to take more, but I couldn’t, it was a lot, and I don’t even know how he did it,”

                “It’s because he’s a fighter, and he wants to do whatever he can to not be a burden,”

                “He’s not a burden,”  
                “He’s an independent person. As in, he likes to do work projects by himself, he likes to figure things out on his own if he can,”  
                “Then how do you two even have a relationship?”  
                “Relationships are different,”

                “I just don’t get them, they don’t make any sense to me,”  
                “You’ll get it,”  
                “How do you know?”

                “That’s exactly what I said, and look where I am today. I’m married to my mate, I have a beautiful and talented daughter, a big house, a good job, and a good life. Believe me, it’ll all make sense once it happens,”

                “Okay, I believe you,”

                “Now, we should go to bed. It’s been a long day,” She nodded and curled herself into Derek’s chest, Derek brushing her hair down and kissing her temple.

                “Goodnight warrior princess,” He whispered softly before going to sleep himself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Stiles:** After a long four more days in the hospital, Stiles got to go home, restricted to lifting anything heavy, twisting himself awkwardly, or going back to work, at least for another couple of weeks. Stiles’ birthday was that weekend, September 12 th, and Derek already had it planned (permitting if Stiles was up for it). As soon as he got home, Derek got him all set up on the couch.

                “What are you doing?” Stiles asked as Derek got all of his stuff set up on the coffee table.

                “We are not taking you upstairs yet Stiles,”

                “Derek, c’mon,”

                “No,”

                “Not even if you carry me?”

                “What if you need something downstairs? I know you too well, you’ll try to go downstairs to get it on your own,” Stiles pouted as he sat on the couch. Mykah came in the door from getting off of the bus and hugged Stiles.

                “Daddy, I’m glad you’re home, but you’re not going upstairs,”

                “My family is retaliating against me?”

                “If you stay down here, then we’ll be able to party for your birthday this weekend,”  
                “Ugh,” Stiles crossed his arms. “You suck ass,”

                “Kay, thanks for the compliment,” Derek handed Stiles a soda bottle with a bendy straw in it. Stiles took a couple of sips and sat it on the coffee table. Mykah plopped next to Stiles, Stiles grunting and Derek turning around and giving Mykah the stare of death.

                “I’m fine Derek, don’t worry about it,” Mykah started rubbing her face on Stiles so she could scent mark him. He missed that. He missed being at home. “How did pup’s second full moon go?”

                “It went pretty well. No blood this time, she didn’t growl as much, and by about 1:30, she was able to change back and she fell asleep. It was a pretty early night actually,”

                “That’s good,” Stiles pushed himself up off of the couch and Derek turned around immediately to check to see if he was okay. Stiles held up his hands to show he was fine and walked (more like limped) over to the bar where he sat and got out his laptop.

                “What are you doing?”

                “Work,” Stiles started to type and Derek slammed the laptop on his fingers. “Owww! Damn, I just wanted to write a couple of emails,”

                “Worry about healing first. No work,”  
                “But I’m just-.”

                “NO WORK.” Stiles rolled his eyes.

                “Well, I wanna read a book,” Stiles started for the stairs and Derek picked him up and moved him like a kid.

                “What book do you want?”

                “I don’t know, I wanna look,”

                “No,”

                “Derek,”

                “Find something else to do,”

                “Like drugs?” Mykah looked over with a confused face. “Oh, no honey that was a joke,” Derek thumped him in the back of the head.

                “Go get your sketchbook, or go play the piano,” Stiles liked the piano idea.

                “Take me upstairs to the study,” Stiles leaned on Derek who carried him bridal style up the stairs, Mykah following. Once they were up the stairs, Derek sat him down and watched as Stiles went inside the study, sitting at the piano. He pushed the cover for the keys up and ran his fingers up and down the ivory. Mykah sat on top of the piano and Derek sat next to Stiles.

                “Whatcha gonna play?”

                “You know this song,” Stiles said smiling.

                “Do I?”

                “I know you do,” Stiles started to played a set of chords before singing. “Oh I feel [overjoyed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK3fVJtFTh0). When you listen to my words. I feel them sinking in. I see them crawling underneath your skin. Words are all we have, we’ll be talking, we’ll be talking, these words are all we have. And I here you calling in the dead of night. Oh I hear you calling in the dead of night. Oh I hear you calling in the dead of night,” Mykah smiled. “Take it away Mykah,”  
                “You lean towards despair. When given an opportunity or there. But what is there to gain? When you’re always falling off the fence that way. Words are all we have, we’ll be talking, we’ll be talking, these words are all we have, and I hear you calling in the dead of night. Oh I hear you calling in the dead of night. Oh I hear you calling in the dead of night,” Stiles stopped. “Daddy, can you play Haunt?”

                “I can,” Stiles found the new chords and started the song. “We’ll make our agreements about when to meet and I’ll leave you in the doorway. The cold evening aches as it leaves in its wake all the memories left by the day. And I’m questioning why as you look to the sky that is cloudless up above our heads. And thoughts come to mind that our short little lives haven’t left the path they will tread, they will tread,” Derek then took over.

                “I come back to [haunt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfZP5ciTkII) you. Memories will taunt you. And I will try to love you, it’s not like I’m above you,” Stiles sparked up some new chords again, just some basic background chords before stopping.

                “That was fun,”

                “We don’t do that very often,” Mykah pointed out, plopping to the floor.

                “Maybe we should change that,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                By Friday, Stiles was pretty much back to normal, and by normal, he was able to get around the house by himself, tried to drive himself to work, and even snuck off in Mykah’s treehouse to try to get some work done in his email. So he was definitely prepared for the birthday get-together that was Saturday. Stiles still wasn’t feeling the best, but he did his best to ignore all signs of having cancer. He watched as Derek climbed into the clubhouse.

                “Hey babe, how are you doing?”  
                “Little tired. Hoping that we’ll have some better results on Monday, maybe I won’t have to go to more chemo,”

                “Chemo wasn’t that bad, was it?”

                “How’s feeling like you have no energy and that every part of your body hurts?”

                “Okay, well, I guess that’s fair,”

                “Maybe I’ll do a round of radiation, maybe it’ll be better,”  
                “You know radiation is horribly painful, right?”

                “Well, what isn’t these days? I’m just trying to extend my life to see my daughter graduate. Only eight more years. I can do that, I’m pretty confident,” He saw Derek’s smile.

                “Finally being optimistic are you?”

                “Eh, kind of I guess. I understand what you meant now. Have an open mind. But we really need to get with a lawyer about a will. I know everything’s going to Mykah, but I don’t want something like Peter trying to take all of the stuff and her if something happens while she’s still an adolescent. Her godparents I think should be Scott and Kira. I mean, it would hurt Scott so much if his little pup was all the way back in South America with Cora,”  
                “I think that’s fair,”

                “And for my funeral, I want blue carnations, and I want my head stone to not be too extravagant. You decide. But I really want this symbol on it. And your symbol. And Scott’s,”  
                “Okay,”

                “So, we have a few things done already. Alright. That’s all I can think about right now,”

                “Okay, well, would you like to come down from the treehouse and have lunch?”

                “Will you bring lunch to the treehouse and we have a movie marathon?”

                “What movie series?”

                “American Pie is always a classic series,” Derek smiled.

                “What do you want for lunch?”

                “PB&J with the crust cut off,”

                “Do you want the cheese whale crackers?”

                “Please,”            

                “I thought that we would grow up as we got older,”

                “Not quite,”

                “It was worth a shot,” Stiles watched as Derek climbed down the ladder and went inside to make lunch. He took his laptop and plugged it into the flat screen and loaded the first American pie movie. Derek came back with lunch and Stiles started the movie.

                “So when do you think I’ll be able to go back to work?”

                “I don’t know, probably when you’re not sick,”  
                “So never?”  
                “I never said that,”

                “But Derek, I’m always sick, and we don’t even know if I’m going to get better,”  
                “I meant when you can be independent again,”  
                “I am independent,”

                “You can barely make it up the stairs by yourself,”

                “Ugh,” Stiles groaned, taking a bite of his sandwich. “I am so up for drinking tomorrow though. Really excited,”

                “No keg stands,”

                “But,”

                “No keg stands,”

                “Derek,”

                “Stiles, what did I tell you?” Stiles sighed. “I don’t want you to get hurt, you just got out of the hospital,”

                “Yeah, like four days ago,”

                “You got back from major surgery,”

                “It wasn’t that major,”

                “Oh, definitely not, you’re just missing most of your rib,”  
                “So we’re in agreement,” Derek gave an annoyed look and Stiles decided to stop being fickle. “Fine. But what did you get me?”

                “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow,”

                “No we won’t, because I told you I didn’t want anything, it was a trick question,”

                “Well, you’ll love what it is,”

                “I said no gifts. God, someone’s being a hypocrite, trying to press following orders, damn,”  
                “This one wasn’t my idea, it was Mykah’s, but I also got something to correspond with it,” Stiles glared at Derek. “It’s something you need,”

                “Fine,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Scott poured a cup of beer for Stiles and handed it to him. He took it back and felt it burn his throat and then warm his stomach.

                “Happy birthday bro! For a great one this year and many good ones to come,” He patted Stiles’ back and he smiled, thinking at the back of his mind if this was his last birthday. Mykah tapped him on the shoulder and handed him a box wrapped in blue wrapping paper. Stiles detached the card and read it, a picture of their wolf family on the front.

                _Daddy,_

_You are such an amazing person and I love you. Hoping your birthday is amazing_

                Stiles smiled and pulled at the paper, undoing the box and revealing a set of new colored pencils, a new sketch book, and a blue charm necklace with Stiles’ Celtic symbol on it. On the back it said father. He looked up at Mykah who pulled a necklace out from under her shirt that was the exact same one. She flipped it over and it said daughter.

                “Mykah, I love it,” Stiles then fastened it around his neck.

                “I was hoping you would,” Derek then walked in from the kitchen and handed Stiles a smaller box to open.

                “Sorry, I didn’t get a card,”

                “Its fine,” Stiles opened the box and inside was a small charm. It was a silver charm that looked familiar. “Is this?”

                “This is they symbol that Mykah chose,” Stiles looked at Mykah who gave a shy smile. The charm was the shape of the Nemeton.

                “I wanted dad to give you this one because I saw the design somewhere, and I showed it to him and he thought you would understand what it meant,”  
                “It’s the Nemeton. It’s the source of all good and evil for our pack, and everything always leads back to it, it’s like we’re rooted to it,” She smiled.

                 “This is the sign I want for me,” She said, pulling up a bracelet under her sleeve with the same charm on it. Derek also pulled out a necklace that had both of the charms. Stiles put the charm on the necklace and started feeling the smooth metal with his fingers.

                “Thank you guys, you’re amazing,”

                “No problem daddy,” Mykah jumped up and kissed his check before hugging him.

                “Do I get a kiss?” Derek asked. Stiles nodded and Derek pressed his warm lips against Stiles’, them making out for a while. When they finally released, Stiles looked at Mykah who usually look disgusted but was suddenly fascinated, like everything in her little life clicked into place.

                “Dad, I get it now, I know what you mean,” Derek smirked and Stiles stood in confusion.

                “What is she talking about?”

                “I’ll tell you later, but now Mykah needs to go to bed,” She yawned and nodded, retreating upstairs from the full swing party downstairs. Derek led Stiles into the kitchen and there were shot glasses on the table along with whiskey. “Time for birthday shots!” Derek turned on the boom box and Shots by LMFAO started to blare as Stiles took three shots, feeling the liquid claw its way down his throat before subsiding a little bit. Scott drank from a flask (which had wolfs bane in it) and was already a little tipsy.

                “You’re an amazing brother,”

                “Thanks,” Stiles hugged Scott.

                “I just wanted to tell you that so it’ll be fun when we get completely wasted!”  
                “Scott, I think you’re already wasted,”

                “Nah, I’m not wasted,” Scott was stumbling a little bit. “Okay, so maybe I am a little bit tipsy,” Stiles laughed and took another shot. He nursed his cup as the music pumped loudly in the room. He drank some more and then started to dance in circles, almost falling and being brought to his feet by Derek. Stiles laughed and kissed Derek’s stubble. Derek picked Stiles up and pulled him over his shoulder and spun him around the kitchen, putting him on the counter. Derek then slipped Stiles’ shirt off and laid him flat down on the island counter. He then poured some tequila into his belly button and took a shot off of him.

                “Happy birthday beautiful,” Derek whispered in his ear, nibbling at his ear lobe.

                “Body shots!” Scott called out and ran over to Stiles, along with Danny, Lydia, and Kira who all took a shot off of him. Then, everyone danced a little bit longer, Scott, as usual, passing out in the bushes and Lydia and Jackson crashing in one of the guest rooms where they were having disgusting and loud drunk sex. Derek passed out on the couch and Stiles passed out in one of the chairs.

                About a few hours later, Stiles awoke with a raging headache to see that everyone was gone. He groaned, and practically crawled up the stairs, every bone in his body aching. He didn’t know if it was from the hangover or the cancer, but he wasn’t in the mood to find out. He crawled into bed next to Derek, who had somehow managed to find his way back to the bed. Stiles snuggled close to Derek, Derek rolling over onto him and wrapping his arms around him.

                “Hope you had a good birthday beautiful,” Derek spoke in his ear. Stiles did. It was unforgettable, and it was spent with all the people he loved, and it couldn’t’ve been more perfect.

                                ~~~*~~~

                “So,” The doctor spoke, weaving his fingers together with his elbows on the desk. “After the PET scan we took in the hospital, and also analyzing the damage from your surgery, we’ve decided that we’re not sure if the chemo is helping, considering it has spread. The best plan right now is to look into other options. There are stronger chemotherapy options, but I have a feeling that there’s not going to be much progress with that. I would suggest radiation to try to slow down the progression of the cancer, but again Mr. Hale, it’s your choice,” Stiles nodded his head, slightly lost in a trance.

                “What are the side effects of the radiation?” Stiles asked, voice quivering just slightly.

                “Well, let’s see, there’s fatigue, some skin changes, such as peeling, blistering, etc., and some people experience pain and discomfort, but it is a little different for everyone. It’s not going to feel the best because it’s damaging healthy skin cells, just a warning,” Stiles nodded again.

                “Okay, well, let’s try it,”

                “Alright. Well, I’m going to adjust your medication a bit and while the treatment is going on, I would rather you not work unless it’s from home to prevent too much stress on you, and you won’t do as well if you’re stressed out and tired, alright?” Stiles sighed.

                “Okay. But, what’s next? What if that doesn’t work?”

                “We’re going to keep trying to find a method that does,” The doctor answered honestly.

                “Well, do I um, um, have a date?” Stiles’ legs were shaking and so were his hands. Derek grabbed Stiles’ arms to steady and nuzzled his head in Stiles’ neck.

                “Well, it’s pretty hard at this point to suspect what the cancer is going to do, but I would have to say a year? This is if the cancer keeps progressing at the point it does, and with this type of cancer, I may even be overestimating. I’m sorry,” Stiles did his best to not break down, but he then just couldn’t stop crying. Stiles glanced up at one point to see the doctor looking sorrowfully at his hands. Derek hugged Stiles and did his best to comfort him, but it didn’t help. Here was Stiles’ world, crashing at his feet like he predicted. Hell, he even tried to prepare himself for this, but all of it failed. He finally ran out of tears and just leaned on Derek.

                “We’re going to start radiation Thursday about 3:30, and we’re going to continue this every week,” Stiles was trying to listen, but he couldn’t. He didn’t want to be in here anymore, he didn’t want to be dying anymore, there’s a lot of stuff he didn’t want anymore. But at the same time, there was so much more he wanted to do with his life, so much more that he would never get to do.

                “Thank you,” Derek said, helping Stiles up and curling his arms around him as they walked out. If it weren’t for Derek, Stiles would have fallen to the ground. Derek got Stiles in the front seat of the car and he broke down again. “Stiles,”  
                “Derek, please just drive, I want to go home,” Stiles said through sobs. Derek started driving as Stiles continued to sob. “I’m never going to see Mykah walk across the stage at graduation, I’m never going to be able to watch her get married, fuck I’m not going to even see her grow up! I’m going to miss out on her whole life Derek, all of it! I’m going to miss out on the rest of our lives,” Stiles put his forehead on the dash of the car and continued to cry some more. “I don’t wanna die Derek, I’m not ready, and I’m scared. I’m afraid of dying, okay?” Derek pulled off of the highway and into an empty parking lot, parking the car.

                “Stiles, look at me,” Derek said very aggressively. Stiles turned his head and sniffled. Derek grabbed Stiles’ shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “Baby, you’re my world, and it sucks but we’re just going to have to get through this. We’ve done it before, we can do it again, alright?” Stiles nodded. Derek brushed the tears away from Stiles’ face and kissed him. “I love you,”  
                “I love you too,” Derek settled back into his seat and then started driving home. Once Stiles got inside the house, he decided to take a bath, soak some of the sadness off of himself. He wanted to cry, wanted to scream, but he didn’t have the energy to. He just wanted to sulk forever, for time to stop so he could sulk.

                “Stiles, are you okay?” Derek asked through the door. Stiles nodded his head before realizing that Derek couldn’t see him.

                “Yeah,” He said, his voice small and frayed.

                “Do you want me to come in?”  
                “No, just, I want some alone time, is that okay? Just need to think,”

                “That’s fine, if you need anything, just call,” Stiles sighed and sunk into the water. He would periodically put his head under the hot water and sit there for a while before pulling his head back up and taking in another breath.

                “I could die here,” Stiles thought to himself. “Look how easy it is. Death is so easy,” Stiles then shook the memory out of his head. He was sinking back to his 13 year old self, and that was a dark place to be. After about an hour, when the water in the tub was cold and Stiles finally gained the energy to get himself up, he dried himself off and crawled into bed, feeling the soft sheets against his cold body. He wanted to sleep but he couldn’t, so he curled himself into a ball and looked out the window next to the bed. He heard the door creak open and the bed shift next to him. He felt warm skin press into his back and he curled himself around the body.

                “You seem tired, how about you take a nap,” Stiles nodded and curled closer to Derek, shutting his heavy eyelids.

                                ~~~*~~~

                When Stiles woke up, he felt little kisses running up his face. He blinked and saw a blurry version of his daughter. He stretched his arm and felt her small little hand give him his glasses. He pushed them up the bridge of his nose and Mykah threw her arms around him. She laid on his chest and wriggled her little nose.

                “You don’t have to worry about us daddy,” She said, grabbing his hand. “It’ll be okay,” Stiles gave a wary smile.

                “I know princess,” his voice was clenched as he combed the tangles through her hair with his fingers. “I wish it wasn’t like this,” he said, his voice small and shallow.

                “I do too, but I still love you, and will always love you, and we’re just going to have to make the best of it, okay?” Stiles nodded. He loved how his daughter could be strong when he wasn’t able to. He wanted to stay and help raise her, watch her grow into a beautiful young girl, but he was also aware that it wasn’t going to happen, because cancer had another plan, and it didn’t care that he had a child, it didn’t care that he had a husband, and it especially didn’t care that his life wasn’t just important to him, but to his family. Stiles got up and went downstairs, feeling tired and a bit hungry. He sat at the bar and saw that Derek was working on dinner. Had he really slept through the day? He needed it either way. Derek got a beer out of the fridge and slid it towards Stiles who took a couple of swigs. He then felt for the necklaces around his neck and rubbed the charms with his thumb and forefinger and sighed.

                “What’s wrong?” Derek asked. Stiles knew he could sense the discontent that Stiles was letting out.

                “Just tired, not really looking forward to Thursday. Just tired of all of this,” Stiles slumped his shoulders and Derek gave him a plate of stir fry. Stiles shoveled it into his mouth, realizing he wasn’t as hungry as he thought, but he needed the food. Derek rubbed his back and Stiles relaxed a little bit. “Dying hurts,” Stiles said, sighing. Mykah gave a sad look.

                “So, it’s officially that now?” Mykah asked, sitting next to Stiles.

                “Yeah,” Stiles said sadly. “They gave me a date,”  
                “How long?”

                “A year honey,” Mykah whimpered and crawled next to Stiles, shaking her head.

                “No,” She started to tremble and get louder and more aggressive. “NO.” She started to turn, her eyes glowing gold as she ran out the back door and into the woods. Stiles got up and went to go running after here but Derek stopped him.

                “She’ll come back,” Stiles shook his head.

                “It’s all my fault Derek,”

                “This isn’t your fault, she didn’t want to hurt you,”

                “I made her mad, she left because of me,”  
                “She’s not mad at you, she’s mad at the situation,” Stiles sighed and put his plate in the sink, throwing his bottle in the trashcan. “She’ll come back,”

                “And what if she doesn’t?”

                “Believe me, she will. If she’s not back by tomorrow morning, we’ll go get Scott,” Stiles nodded and put his head in his hands.

                Derek and Stiles stayed up until 12:00 am, and when there was no sign of Mykah, they left the back door unlocked and went to bed. Stiles couldn’t stop thinking about Mykah. If she was going to be okay, if she was going to go home, or if that was going to be the last confrontation that he would ever have with her. He knew she wouldn’t be gone long, but Stiles didn’t have long himself. Even if she was gone for a year, that wasn’t that long. Derek was gone for nearly ten after the fire, but Stiles didn’t have that year, hell, he might not even have a month. There was so much uncertainty to it that Stiles started having a panic attack that woke him up. He started crying first, then struggling for breath and then Derek woke up to comfort him. Most of Stiles’ panic attacks last a most of five minutes, but after fifteen minutes, Stiles was shaking and hyperventilating and he watched as Derek started to panic on what to do. Thirty minutes later, Stiles stopped crying and John was on his way, because, as Derek put it, “We need to find Mykah before Stiles kills over and dies”.

                “Where did she go?”

                “She just, turned and left,” Stiles said, pacing the floor. He started spinning his wedding band on his finger, a habit he never really phased and started to bite at his bottom lip.

                “Okay, well, we’ll find her. If she comes back home, just call me, alright son?” Stiles nodded, still biting his bottom lip. Derek didn’t seem as concerned, but at the same time, he knew the wolf side of her better, and Stiles didn’t. Stiles went into full parent mode, not wolf mode. “What do you want me to call it in as?”

                “Sleepwalking,” Stiles quickly said, without thinking. “But don’t start searching until tomorrow, okay? She doesn’t like skipping school for anything,”  
                “That’s fine son. Please get some sleep, that stress is not going to be good on you,” Stiles sighed and pulled at his hair. Derek patted Stiles’ back. John waved and left the house, leaving Stiles to slowly drop to the floor. Derek got on the floor and cuddled him.

                “It’s going to be okay, alright?” Stiles nodded, a tear going down his face.

                “I wish I knew that our nine year old daughter wasn’t out in the woods at this time. Where there might be hunters. And other supernatural creatures that could hurt her,”

                “You’re just going to have to trust that she’s going to be okay,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles woke up at 7 to his alarm. He quickly got up and searched the house for no sign of Mykah. He checked her room, the bathrooms, and everywhere else, and still nada. He sighed and called for Derek to come downstairs. Stiles looked out the back porch and searched, but there was no sign of her. He saw Derek come down in just sweatpants and he quickly embraced him.

                “She’s not here,” He said, disappointedly. Derek then gave a nervous face.

                “We need to call Scott,”

                “I need to call my dad,” Derek grabbed his phone from his pocket and went back inside as Stiles grabbed his phone and called his dad. It rang and he heard the receptionist from the station answer.

                “Beacon County Sheriff’s office, Sheila speaking,”  
                “Hey, Sheila, it’s Stiles, do you mind putting me through to my dad?”  
                “No problem,” The line was put on hold with cliché music and then it switched to his father.

                “Stiles?”

                “Dad, hey, um, she’s not here,” There was an incredibly long pause before he responded.

                “I’ll be right on it,”

                “Thank you. Derek’s on the phone with Scott right now, so maybe he can get some people to come and find her also,”  
                “Okay, I’ll keep you updated,”

                “Thank you dad, I love you,”

                “I love you too, we’ll find her, okay?” Stiles mumbled an mmhmm before the line went dead. He walked into the living room where he was still talking to Scott.

                “Okay, we’ll keep you posted. If you see anything,” Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek’s shoulders. “Okay, thanks Scott, I owe you one,” Derek hung up the phone and looked to Stiles.

                “Now it’s our turn to search,” Derek quickly went to the laundry room and came back wearing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, handing Stiles jeans and a sweatshirt also. Derek then held Stiles’ hand and they went walking towards the woods. Stiles watched Derek’s nose wriggle as he would occasionally catch a scent.

                “Did you find anything?” Derek shook his head.

                “A, it’s a bit too windy, and B there’s still nothing here,” Stiles started to call Mykah’s name, hoping that maybe she would come, but they didn’t find her. After three hours, they finally went back in, because Stiles was getting tired. “They’ll find her Stiles, it hasn’t even been 24 hours,”

                “But still,”           

                “It’ll be okay, we’ll figure it out,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                It had been three days and still no sign of Mykah. They had searched all over the county, and they still couldn’t find her. They didn’t broadcast it though, mostly due to Derek and Stiles’ discretion in case they found her in wolf form. Stiles had his first radiation treatment, which didn’t go as well as planned and made him a little sick. When they got home, Stiles collapsed on the couch and being so tired just cried. He didn’t like to cry, but he was doing a lot of it recently. His life was falling apart.

                “Why can’t I just drop dead right now?” Stiles said angrily. “My daughter’s gone, my life is almost up, and I’m a horrible father, why didn’t I just drop dead sooner?”

                “Stiles, don’t say that. There’s one more place for us to check,”

                “Derek, I’m not going back there,”

                “Stiles,”

                “Derek, no way in hell,”

                “She might be there, we have to check,” Stiles sighed, pulling at his hair. He was doing that a lot lately.

                “Fine,” Stiles walked towards the garage and sat in the passenger seat of the car as Derek got in and drove towards the highway, passing a green sign that said Beacon Hills 25 miles. Stiles’ stomach ached and churned as they approached closer and closer to their location, and when Derek was pulling up into the preserve. The sheriff’s car was there, and the thought of Stiles’ dad possibly getting hurt made Stiles want to leave even more, but he needed to find his daughter. He couldn’t abandon her, he couldn’t abandon anyone when it was his last hurrah to save anyone, like old Stiles did back in the day. He took a deep breath and got out of the car, walking towards the entrance of the woods. He immediately spotted his dad and waved at him, John coming over.

                “This is the last place before we have to put out an amber alert in the state of California, alright?” Stiles nodded. “I’ll search the west side of the property, you guys do the east side,” John started walking towards the other side of the property, Stiles and Derek heading east.

                “Please be here,” Stiles prayed, listening to the crunching leaves under his feet. “Please be here,” They walked the half circle of the property before going towards the middle. It was about an hour and a half later before they went back to the car to wait for John. “Do you think they found her?”

                “I’m not sure,” Derek said. Then, Stiles saw Derek flick his head towards the woods and his ears slightly perk up. Coming out of the woods was John carrying Mykah in his arms. She was covered in blood and scratches. Derek quickly got her and put her in the car.

                “I found her near the remains of your old house Derek. She doesn’t look in too good of shape,” Stiles sighed and hugged his dad.

                “Thank you,”

                “Hey, it’s my granddaughter too,” Stiles finished the hug and looked at his dad.

                “I have to tell you something,”

                “What’s up?”

                “They gave me a date,” Stiles started the conversation, looking at the toes of his vans. “I have about a year, maybe. That’s an overestimation,” John’s face fell.

                “I, I don’t know what to say son. I want to talk about this, but let’s wait until you take care of the kid issue first,” Stiles nodded and headed back towards the car, Derek setting Mykah in his lap and driving towards Deaton’s. They pulled in and saw that his car was still there and they knocked on the door.

                “I’m sorry, we’re closed,” a voice erupted from inside.

                “Deaton, its Derek. Mykah’s been hurt,” The door immediately unlocked and Deaton grabbed Mykah from Derek’s arms and walked her back.

                “What’s wrong with her?”

                “She’s been missing for a couple of days but we found her like this,” Deaton opened her eyelids and flashed her eyes, the color not a light brown but still a glowing gold. He looked at one of the scratches on her arm and took a certain herb and poured it in the wound. Purple smoke erupted from the wound and it started to heal. Deaton continued to do this on all of the cuts until they all healed back over, and then opened her mouth and made her swallow it.

                “Well, it looks like she ran into a hunter’s trap, fake thorns set up in sticker bushes laced with a special wolfs bane. It looks like she’s been out a while, so I would have to say that she ran over there the first night when she got angry, got scratched, and dropped,” Stiles and Derek nodded as Stiles petted through her hair. “The poison being in her system for so long, we don’t know how it’s going to affect her on the inside, and if she doesn’t wake up tomorrow, you need to take her to the emergency room,”

                “Okay,” Deaton checked her eyes again, seeing that they were now back to a whiskey brown, but she was still out. Derek picked her up and took her back.

                “Thank you,” Stiles said, shaking Deaton’s hand.

                “It’s no problem. Please visit more often,” The way Deaton said that, Stiles just knew that he knew. Scott probably told him, but it still didn’t make Stiles settle any easier.

                “I will,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                They got Mykah cleaned up before putting her to bed, Stiles sighing, not in relief. Yeah, he did have his daughter home, but she was sick, and they didn’t know if she was going to be okay. It was his fault. It was his fault that she left, it was his fault that she was sick. It was his fault that she got mad and left, running into the woods. It was all his fault.

                “It’s all my fault,” Stiles finally whispered, shaking his head as he glanced through her bedroom door before reverting his gaze to the floor.

                “It’s not your fault,” Derek said, grabbing his shoulders. “None of this is your fault. Things happen, okay?”

                “No, not things like this. She was gone for three days. She laid there for three days, and what would have happened if we found her a couple days later? Would she be dead? Do you see what I cause Derek? Maybe everything will become better now that I’ll be dead in a year,”

                “You bite your fucking tongue, she could have gotten into hunter territory anywhere. She could have run away because of something at school, or when we were on the other side of the state, but she didn’t, and we knew what the risks were and are, that’s what life is. It’s what fatherhood comes with,” Stiles glanced back into her room and saw her chest slowly start to rise and fall as her eyelids fluttered. He ran into the room and sat on the bed next to her as she groaned awake. She then started to cry, clinging to Stiles like a bur.

                “I’m sorry,” She apologized, soaking his shirt in tears. “I’m sorry I went running, and I’m sorry you couldn’t find me,” Stiles hugged her as hard as he could.

                “It’s okay, you’re home now, and you’re okay now,”  
                “I ran into a trap, I’m sorry, I just went running, not paying attention to where I was going, and then I’m at a place that smells like home but I’m dizzy, so I dropped to the ground,” Stiles could feel the sigh in the back of Derek’s throat as they hugged her. They had their daughter back. She was back, she was okay, and that’s all that mattered at this point.

                “It’s okay, you’re okay, everything’s okay now,” Stiles petted her hair as Derek gave her a big hug. “I love you pup,” Derek spoke, planting kisses on her cheeks and forehead.

                                ~~~*~~~

                It had been about a week since Mykah had come home, and so far, everything was back to normal, well except for one crucial detail. Stiles was starting to lose his memory. He knew he kind of was, repeating questions, forgetting everyday things he needed like his phone or to set his alarm (which was more of a natural habit, not really something he did).

                “What time is Mykah’s game tonight?”  
                “It’s at seven,” Stiles wrote it on his arm with his finger. He used to do that to spell words for spelling bees. A couple seconds later, he couldn’t remember the time again. He knew that he had asked at least a handful of times, so he decided to stop asking questions.

                “Derek, I think I’m losing my memory,”

                “Yeah, I’ve noticed. You left a pot of boiling water on the stove today,” Stiles sighed and fumbled with his fingers.

                “Do you think it’s…?”  
                “No, no I don’t think so. I knew how that felt, this isn’t like this. I’m just forgetting my things, I can still process thoughts, just,” Derek sighed and pulled an accordion folder from one of the living room side table drawers and pulled out some information on his medicine. Derek started to read through it, occasionally highlighting things. Derek took the highlighter and tapped it on the paper.

                “See here, on one of your medications it says that you may have short term memory loss,” Stiles groaned and slumped down in one of the kitchen chairs.

                “Can I just not life anymore?”

                “Come on, it could be worse,”  
                “I would really like to see how this could get any worse. I really would,” Stiles half smacked his head on the table in front of him. He felt Derek’s hand rub his shoulders, taking a little of the dull pain that ached in his back every time he would take a breath.

                “We’ll get through this,”

                “Yeah,” Stiles got up and went upstairs to the piano, where he sat and altered his fingers between the G and A keys. Then, he did a couple of chords before starting to play the middle of the song [Skulls by Bastille](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV0W2_hOvU4). “When all our friends are dead and just a memory, and we’re side by side it’s always been just you and me for all to see. When our lives are over, and all that remains, are our skulls and bones let’s take it to the grave. And hold me in your arms, hold me in your arms, I’ll be buried here with you. And I’ll hold in these hands, all that remains.” Stiles sighed and heard the last chord ring through the room. He then started to pound at the keys, starting another song. “Oh, you go to sleep on your own and you wake each day with your thoughts and it scares you being alone it’s a last resort,” he changed the chords and switched songs “Cross my heart and hope to die, burn my lungs and curse my eyes. I’ve lost control and I don’t want it back, going on I’ve been hijacked. It’s a fucking drag. I taste you on my lips and I can’t get rid of you, so I say damn your kiss and the awful things you do, yeah you’re worse than nicotine, nicotine. Yeah, you’re worse than nicotine, nicotine,” He changed the chords one more time to end with a sadder song, tears falling down his face. “I’m bleeding out, if it’s the last thing that I do, is bring you down, I bleed out for you. So I bare my skin and I count my sins and I close my eyes and I take it in, I’m bleeding out, I bleed out for you, for you,” Stiles stopped and let his head fall onto the ivory keys, an eruption of clashing sound filling the room. He threw the original sheet music that was on the music stand onto the floor and started to sob.

                “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die,” he kept repeating, feeling worse and worse. “I don’t want to die, oh god,” He then started to sob again and fell to the floor where he crawled up into a ball and slid his way under the piano. He then started to breathe slower, trying not to start another panic attack and got himself mostly calmed down. He was more than sure that Derek could hear him, and Mykah, but he was appreciative that they let him have some coping time to himself to think things through. He sighed and could hear faintly through the door one of his favorite songs. He crawled over to the study doors and laid on the floor, his ear on the crack of the door. He started to hear [Bastille’s cover of No Angels](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MHZ3GwPRqA) and smiled.

                _No, I don’t want your number no, I won’t give you mine, no, I won’t meet you nowhere, no I won’t spend your time. No, I don’t want no scrub, scrub is a guy who can’t get no love from me, hanging out the passenger side of his best friend’s ride, trying to holla at me, I don’t want no scrub, scrub is a guy who can’t get no love from me, hanging out the passenger side of his best friend’s ride, trying to holla at me. Oh, trying to holla at me, oh_.

                The Bastille cover sounded amazing like always. A piece of paper was slipped under the door that said **you’re not a scrub** and he smiled brighter, unlocking the door. Derek slowly slipped in and sat on the floor next to Stiles.

                “We’ll be okay, okay?” Stiles nodded, letting Derek grab his head and pull it towards his chest. Derek got his phone off of the floor and quickly switched it to[ Oh Honey’s song Be Okay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15pMHi9h8rI).

                _Can’t complain about much these days, I believe that we’ll be okay_

                “We will be okay. We’ll figure it out,”

                “And I know you’re not ready, but we’ll do anything you want, make everything go out with a bang,”

                “Okay,”

                _We’ll be okay_

                Derek helped Stiles off of the floor and they went to the bedroom, where Stiles settled in for his afternoon nap. He wasn’t embarrassed about it, he knew that it was going to happen at one point, and the more he slept, the more energy he would get when he needed to get up and help Mykah practice piano, or trumpet, or do things with her. He was determined to do everything he ever wanted with her, and he wasn’t making a list this time. Lists just point out all of the things you didn’t get to do, makes you and other people feel guilty. Derek would usually take a nap with him for a little while before going to pick Mykah up at school. Stiles missed picking her up at school, taking her to one of the cafes downtown and they would drink tea and then go to the park and throw coins into the fountain. He wanted to do that. He didn’t know how he would be in a month, let alone a year, so he was going to take full advantage of doing everything. He groaned at the thought of this and snuggled into Derek’s side.

                “I just wanted to say thank you,” Stiles whispered, running his bottom lip up the side of Derek’s face. “Thank you for being with me, thank you for staying with me, thank you for raising a family with me, thank you for keeping me in line, and thank you for always believing in me,” He felt Derek’s hand brush under his shirt and up the length of his spine.

                “Thank you for giving me a reason to live,” Stiles smiled and kissed Derek, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and then nuzzling his neck. “Wow, that was a lot of love for one kiss,”

                “Well, expect more. I want to make sure that I always kiss you when I fall asleep in case I don’t wake up,” He could practically feel Derek’s frown in the dark room. “Even if we fight, I always want you to know that I will always love you, even from the grave, I love you present tense, and you’re not getting rid of me that easily,” Stiles chuckled and the room was still silent. He heard the click of a phone keyboard and heard a song.

                _I come back to haunt you. Memories will taunt you. And I will try to love you, it’s not like I’m above you._

                The song stopped and Stiles smiled.

                “I love you,”  
                “Love you more,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles opened his eyes and heard water running in the Jacuzzi, the quiet hum of the jets. He heard Derek sigh and a small splash indicated he was getting in. Stiles made his breathing sound like he was still asleep so Derek could take a break from Stiles duty. He knew that Derek was running himself ragged from running Mykah everywhere, to working on several books at a time because he kept coming up with new plots. He looked on the bedside table on Derek’s side to see a full manuscript covered in red pen. It was almost complete. He knew Derek’s stages of drafting, and soon he would have a book pulled out and ready for printing. The bad thing is that Stiles knew he wouldn’t be able to go on the book tour of the new book, knew that he would be long gone by the time it reached the shelves, or any of his other books. He sighed in his head and readjusted himself under the covers, still trying to make no noise. He heard a groan from Derek and water shift. Stiles wished that he didn’t have to work as hard as he did. It’s not like Stiles didn’t want to carry his weight, that wasn’t the case at all. He wasn’t able to, and even Derek made sure that he wouldn’t, because Stiles was persistent on doing things on his own.

                He then heard the sound of draining water as the door opened and light spilled into the room. Stiles didn’t flinch, just laid there, closing his eyes. He didn’t want to be such a burden. He wished he wasn’t, that’s not how Stiles was. He felt Derek’s hand come to his head and brush his hair before pressing a soft kiss on his jaw bone.

                “I love you,” He whispered. “I’ll always love you,” Derek then stood motionless and quiet. Stiles knew what he was doing. He was checking to make sure he was still alive. Stiles grumbled in his head at that as he heard the large entry bedroom door open and then close. Stiles then slowly sat up, knowing Derek was going to go pick up Mykah at school. He shifted before getting up, his feet touching the cold wood paneling of the floor before he went into the bathroom, the smell of bath soap immediately filling his nostrils. He took a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror, something he hadn’t done in a long time. He had huge dark circles under his eyes, and his skin was practically translucent. He knew what Derek meant now by Stiles didn’t have a spark in his eyes. Even Stiles could notice the color of his eyes didn’t seem as bright. His ribs stuck out, and so did pretty much all of his bones. He examined his fingers to find that they were bonier than ever. Basically all he was, was a skeleton with skin pulled tightly over it. No muscle. No organs. Just skin and bone. Like a mummy. He sighed out loud this time and did his best to scrub the sleep off of his face, the dark circles looking very prominent compared to his skin tone now. He reached into the drawer where he kept his hairbrush and dug around, pulling out some concealer. Lydia had left it there last time she came to visit. He dabbed a little under his eyes until the dark circles were gone and he looked a little more human. Stiles then put on a long sleeved Henley, knitted. The sleeves were baggy. He then put on sweatpants that at one point fit him perfectly (even a little tight) that now nearly fell off. He pulled the drawstring and rolled the waistband to keep them from falling as he went downstairs and made some coffee, not putting his glasses on. He could blurrily read that the clock on the stove read 3:30. He searched the counter for his phone and being unable to find it, and finally giving up and going back upstairs to get his glasses. He fetched them, grabbed his phone, and went outside to get the mail. He opened the mailbox and pulled out the stack of envelopes, seeing the neighbor watering the lawn.

                “Stiles?”  
                “Oh, hey Mary,”

                “I haven’t seen you in ages, how have you been?”

                “Eh, not bad, could be better,”  
                “So, what’s been going on?” Stiles exhaled.

                “You know not much,”

                “Not much?”

                “Nope, just been home,”

                “You haven’t gone to work or anything?”

                “Can’t,” Stiles said, shrugging his shoulders.

                “Did Stiles Hale just say he couldn’t go to work? What’s up with that?”

                “Sick,”

                “Sick?”

                “Yeah,” Stiles could see it in her eyes that she finally got it. He usually talked to Mary when coming home from work when he would go and get the mail to see if she needed anything. She had a weird phobia of going outside of the neighborhood. She was one of those people who ordered her groceries on Amazon and had them deliver them to her. Same with everything. She worked from home as an Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield representative, and instead of going to meetings, she would skype them in when she was supposed to go anywhere for her job. She also refused to go in anyone’s house, or even outside her yard. It was something that happened in Chicago when she lived there. A plane crashed and a piece of it was an inch away from hitting her, so ever since then, she stays at home and doesn’t exceed the driveway.

                “I’m sorry,” She apologized. Stiles nodded.

                “Nothing to be sorry for,” Stiles shrugged and went back in the house, glancing though the mail. He found a letter that said **To the Guardians of Mykah Hale** and tore it open with his index finger, pulling out the folded paper. It was some test scores, which said she qualified to take the ACT. Stiles smiled and was also blown away. He always knew she was smart, but not ACT at ten smart. He smiled even wider and folded it back, putting it on the counter. So maybe he would be able to see her graduate. The thought made him chuckle. He went upstairs, looking for something to do, and went in his art studio. He glanced around to see that the paints were out of order, and that there was something in the corner covered with a sheet. He knew that Mykah had been working in there avidly lately. He pulled the sheet up and saw that there was this beautiful painting of a gray wolf, half of it with a white skeleton of a wolf painted over the fur. He knew it wasn’t done yet, considering there were stray paint marks where she had stopped. He smiled again and pulled a post it from the wall (from where Stiles had made a post-it mural on the wall) and wrote a little note before sticking it to the bottom of the easel and pulling the sheet back down. It was then that Stiles realized that they really would be okay without him. They really would be okay, because even though Derek keeps saying over and over “We’ll figure it out”, there was really no need, because everything was already figured out. Stiles then walked out of the room and transitioned back to the study, sitting at his oak desk where his laptop was closed. He quickly booted it up as he swiveled in his chair, bumping the chair legs with his feet to switch directions. He then pulled up a blank word document and cracked his knuckles, getting prepared to type.

                **Derek and Mykah,**

**At this point, I’ve moved on to another life beyond the one you two are living in. The reason for this letter is to sum some things up for you. I want to tell you that I love you guys, always have, and always will. But, I wanted to tell you that you two have made the biggest impact on my life, and I wouldn’t’ve had it any other way. This is the way God intended everything to happen, and for me to even experience part of my life with you two brings me great joy, and for that I am grateful. I’ve been so concerned in if you guys would be okay when I left, and I’ve finally accepted and seen that you will be. I’m sorry I had to leave, and if I could have prevented the inevitable, I would have. I would have worked so damn hard to break the clock of father time and wind the hands back, but I can’t. There’s a lot of things I can’t do. I just want to ask a favor. Please be good. Do everything with a purpose. There’s so much you both can do that the human world can’t even, and probably will not ever be able to fathom, so please, help others. That’s all I want. I would never consider, nor do I consider myself an extravagant man of much importance, but I want to continue to make a difference in people, even if I can’t physically do it, and you two have the biggest, most kind hearts that I have ever seen in my life, and I know you’ll complete this task with minimal effort. Thanks for everything you’ve ever done and will continue to do. I love you.**

**Stiles.**

                Stiles finished, knowing that he would have to go back and revise it later, clicking save and putting it on the home screen of his laptop. He scooted in his chair and made his way back downstairs, laying on the couch, and ended up going back to sleep again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry. It's a little short on words but I'll make it up next chapter. I promised to update this week, and of course when I say that, that's when I have to turn in three essays, a huge project, and the Asian continent, so I'm sorry. I'll post as soon as I can for the next chapter, and for a little heads up, it's only going to go emotionally downhill from here. Prepare the tissues as I prepare for the death threats


	7. Chapter 7

**Derek:** Stiles had slowly been developing this cough. Not like a cold season or flu cough, but this horrible hacking cough that sounded awful. They had finished radiation but Derek knew that the cancer didn’t go away. He could feel it. He could smell it. Stiles wasn’t getting any better, if anything, he was getting worse. It was something that Derek didn’t want to think about, but he could sense it. Stiles slowly started to lose more and more energy, and every time Derek came home to see Stiles asleep, he always checked to make sure he was still alive. For Derek to say he currently hated his life was an understatement. It broke his heart watching his mate, the father of his child slowly dying in front of him. He hated having to come home and he could just smell the sickness hang in the house like a dead animal carcass drying in the sun. It was putrid. The smell itself wasn’t as bad as knowing what the smell meant. That made Derek sick to his stomach. This particular day, Stiles was feeling a little better, and like usual on days like these, Derek came home to see Stiles avidly reading one of Derek’s manuscripts, a red pen in his mouth as he picked up the stack of paper, read through it, and then would circle and edit things. He did it for something to do, something to entertain him. In college he used to TA for a few of his classes and was good at revising pretty much everything.

                “Hey hon,” Stiles kissed Derek’s cheek and slipped his glasses higher on his nose, and then went back to the stack. Derek tiredly put Mykah’s backpack on one of the kitchen chairs. He then trudged up to the study and sat at Stiles’ desk and turned on his computer (Derek’s being in the shop for malware) and saw on the opening screen a document saved in the middle of the screen. It read **For Derek and Mykah** and Derek immediately loaded it. He started reading about two sentences before he had to stop himself from continuing to read it. This was Stiles’ death note. This was what he was going to leave on his laptop for them to find months, hell, even years later when wanting to reminisce, take a walk down memory lane, and actually turn on the laptop (which by then would be outdated) and find it there, read it, and regret not reading it sooner, or not wanting to read it at all in fear that it would bring back too many bad memories. God Derek thought he was an idiot sometimes. Derek shook his head, let out a long sigh, and read through the rest of it. Once he was done, he quickly added a response at the end.

                **We will. Always love you more**

                He pushed save and then pulled up his story on Google Docs and continued to work on it.

                                ~~~*~~~

                After about three hours, Derek was nearing the end of the last chapter. He always estimated a word count for things like that, and he hadn’t quite got there. He had to put his glasses on after a while because from looking at the screen so long, his vision started to swim. He could smell Stiles making dinner downstairs, and his stomach rumbled in response, but he wasn’t going downstairs to eat until he finished this chapter.

                “Der, dinner,” Stiles called from the stairs. Derek got in a couple more sentences before getting horrible writer’s block and quickly google searching “The most creative way to kill off a character” and sparking a few ideas. He heard the door creak on the study and saw Stiles walk in. He was looking a bit better today, seemed like he was actually having one of his good days, which was amazing, but also stressed Derek out in case he might drop dead later that night. Stiles leaned against the door and smiled, coughing some before getting it under control. He then walked in and started to massage Derek’s shoulders, his fingers bony into his muscle. He leaned over and started to nibble on Derek’s earlobe. “Are you going to come down and eat?”

                “I just need to finish this chapter, and then tomorrow I’ll drop by Staples and pick up some more paper for the printer and print off a copy for you to revise,”

                “Just take a break, you’ve been working your ass off, and you already have one of your stories finished,”

                “I want to get a head start in case there’s something that sets us back,”

                “Sets us back?”

                “In case something happens,” Derek didn’t need to say more to see that Stiles got the point of it. Stiles sighed and leaned on Derek, rustling his hair and nuzzling his face into the crook of Derek’s neck. Derek tilted his head back and kissed Stiles’ cheek, rubbing his jawline with the pad of this thumb. He then closed his internet window and followed his husband downstairs, where Stiles scooped fettuccini Alfredo on his plate, Mykah already done with hers and putting her plate in the sink. She pressed a kiss to Stiles’ cheek and then one to Derek’s forehead.

                “I love you both,” Derek smiled and started to eat, Stiles sitting close to Derek. Stiles started to cough and Derek stared at him concerned. Stiles didn’t stop and Derek lightly (well for Derek lightly) hit him on the back and Stiles’ coughs stuttered to a stop. He heavily breathed and held his sides.

                “Thanks,”

                “Are you okay?”  
                “I think that last one broke a rib,” Derek snuck his hand under Stiles’ shirt and pulled some pain from him. Stiles sighed in relief and loosened his grip on the edge of the table where his hands were. “This sucks,” Derek grabbed Stiles’ head and pulled it close to his body. He was cold, really cold, and Derek thought it was due to all of the weight loss. Derek rustled Stiles’ hair and kissed the top of his head, keeping as content as possible. “Can we start looking for funeral plots?”

                “When do you want to look at them?”

                “Tomorrow. I want everything planned out. I’m not getting any younger and my deadline isn’t getting any longer,” Derek nodded and embraced his small little body. He estimated that he weighed only twenty pounds more than Mykah, and that made his heard pull at itself, the seams barely keeping it together slowly popping open one by one. Like a tattoo. Like an open wound. The rest of dinner was spent in silence, and once they finished, Derek took their plates to the dishwasher. The whole house still smelled like cancer, and vaguely of Stiles’ scent. That made him sad. He missed the vanilla and the clean musk scent that Stiles naturally carried with him. He was hoping the next time they went to the doctor that it would be better news. He was hoping that maybe they had a way to stop Stiles’ hurting other than him dying. Derek could sense the fear that Stiles carried around with him, knew that he was terrified, petrified about dying. Derek would be too if his death was just right around the corner. Derek hated when he would wake up to Stiles having a panic attack about dying. As he rinsed the plates off, he looked behind him and watched Stiles climb the stairs, getting about halfway before having to stop and catch his breath, sputtering another wave of coughs like an old station wagon. Stiles’ gazelle-like legs that used to bound the stairs two at a time, leaping up each set of two with valiancy, now stopping, having to take one at a time. Derek slipped the dishes in the dishwasher and then went up the stairs, seeing Stiles holding onto the bannister like the floor was going to break beneath him. He slipped his arm under Stiles’ shoulders and hoisted him up, helping him up the stairs. As Derek carried Stiles, he wondered how long it took him to get up the stairs to see him in the study. Derek ended up carrying Stiles bridal style to their room and setting him in the bed.

                “Lean forward,” Stiles followed Derek’s order and Derek stacked the pillows against his back. Stiles leaned back and closed his eyes.

                “Thanks,” He mumbled, letting his head drift to the side and lean on his shoulder.

                “Tomorrow we need to take you to the doctor instead,” Stiles nodded his head, his breaths staggered and his heart beating out of control, just because of all of the energy that he had to use to get up the stairs, and Derek felt so bad for him, the poor kid didn’t have the energy to do anything. Derek left the room and went downstairs, calling Scott.

                “Derek, hey, how’s it going?”

                “Do you mind coming over here and checking on Stiles?” There was a pause on the line.

                “Yeah, I’ll be right over,”

                “Thanks,” He hung up and sunk down on the couch, sticking his head between his knees. He felt small hands touch his shoulders and he looked up, seeing his daughter, who hugged him around the neck.

                “I love you dad,”  
                “I love you too pup,”  
                “Is daddy going to be okay?” Derek shook his head.

                “Baby, he’s dying. It’s not going to take long and he’ll be gone,” Mykah’s face didn’t shift at all.

                “I know. How long do you think he has now?”

                “I don’t suspect long, but you never know,” They heard a car pull in and Derek opened the door to see Scott getting out of the car, a duffle bag slung over his shoulders, still dressed in scrubs. He put the bag down and grabbed Mykah, spinning her in a circle before kissing her on the cheek.

                “Hi pup, how are you?” She shrugged her shoulders. Scott knew and patted her on the back. He picked the duffle bag back up and headed upstairs to Stiles and Derek’s room. Stiles was half asleep. He usually was at this time. Scott nudged him and he opened his eyes, blinking and groaning. “Stiles buddy, how are you feeling?” Stiles groaned again and Scott put his ear to Stiles’ chest. His eyes widened and he rubbed Stiles’ shoulder. “His heart is beating really fast you know,” Derek nodded. Scott then listened to Stiles’ lungs.

                “He’s being way overworked. You’re planning to take him to the doctor tomorrow, right?”  
                “Yes, I just wanted to see what you think,”  
                “Well, I think that it’s spread. It smells like it anyway. I suspect that he’s going to be downgraded to a wheelchair,” Stiles stirred a little bit before going back to sleep. “You also should think about hospice pretty soon,” Derek nodded his head. “If all else, me or Melissa could drop by every day instead,”

                “If it’s not too much trouble, I feel like that would be a better idea,”

                “I would agree. Friendlier environment,” Derek took a blanket from the corner of the room and draped it over Stiles, his body looking long and skinny on the bed. “I’ll come by and check on him tomorrow,” Scott hugged Derek and waved himself out. Mykah stood behind Derek and hugged the back of his leg.

                “Wheelchair?” She asked, looking up at Derek.

                “It looks like it,” She sighed and crawled onto the bed next to Stiles. His heart rate was going down a bit, but was still pretty high. His eyelids flittered open again and he wrapped his arm around Mykah.

                “Sorry I kept falling asleep, just, really tired. What did Scott say?”

                “He says it’s not looking the best hon,” Stiles shook his head.

                “Okay. Okay,” Stiles took a deep breath and nuzzled Mykah’s hair. “Everything will be okay,” He then crossed his legs under him and sighed. He adjusted his glasses and Mykah laid in his lap as he brushed through her hair. She was starting to hit puberty. Derek knew because her hair started to curl (according to Stiles, like his mom’s hair used to do) and she was taller, and she was starting to get a little bit of acne. It was a little more proof to Derek that she was growing up. A couple of months ago he didn’t think she would have been able to handle it if Stiles died, but now he thinks that she’ll be one of the strongest coming out of it. “I love you guys so much. Please remember that,” Derek nodded as Stiles reached out for Derek’s hand. A tear fell onto the comforter from Derek and he squeezed Stiles’ hand as hard as he could without breaking it. Derek saw that Stiles pulled out his necklaces with the symbols on them, and Derek smiled.

                “You two will always be close to my heart,” Derek and Mykah pulled out their similar necklaces.

                “Ditto,” Mykah said.

                “Ditto,” Derek agreed. They left the room for Stiles and Derek watched Mykah sit outside on the front porch. It would have been perfect if she were smoking a cigarette, but it was already so cold that her breath simulated it in the chilled air.

                “I thought I would be less okay with him dying, but after seeing him look so sick, I’m just praying for the day to happen for his sake. I’d rather him be in no more pain,” Mykah curled her feet underneath her and Derek sat next to her.

                “I’m so proud of you. Just wanted to tell you that,”

                “What’s there to be proud of?”

                “Everything. You know that daddy tells me all the time that he’s proud of you. He loves you,”

                “I feel like I infuriate him,”

                “Why would you do that?”

                “Because I look so much like her,”

                “That doesn’t infuriate him, it actually does the opposite. He loves it,”

                “I feel like I’m not good enough,”  
                “You will always be good enough,”

                “Why do I always feel like I’m not?”

                “What’s been going on?” She gulped in some air and after several seconds responded.

                “Kara’s not friends with me anymore,”

                “What happened?”

                “She pushed me away, after this new girl came and now they take turns making fun of me,” Derek’s wolf howled inside of him. No one hurts his pup. He gritted his teeth and audibly growled.

                “What do they say?”

                “They say things like I come from a family of fags, and that the only reason my daddy is dying is because he wants to get away from me,” She didn’t look at Derek directly when she said that, and Derek was screaming inside. He growled again. “They usually trip me in the halls, hit me with books across the room and stuff, but I mean it all heals, so it doesn’t really matter,”

                “No, it does matter Mykah, that’s bullying,” He grabbed her arm and pulled her back inside, leading her to the garage. He put her in the front seat of the Camaro and opened the garage door, backing out and heading straight to Kara’s house first. The sun was just starting to set.

                “Where are we going?”

                “I’m going to show Kara a little piece of my mind,”

                “Dad, don’t,” It was too late. Derek was already set to do it, and he knew that Mykah knew that. He pulled into their driveway and Derek knocked on the door. Mykah half hid behind him as Carol opened the door.

                “Derek, what an unexpected surprise, what are you doing here?”

                “Well, actually I wanted to talk to Kara, if that was okay,”

                “Yeah sure,” She called Kara down, and they saw her walking down the stairs with her cellphone pressed to her ear.

                “Yeah, the dumb bitch went missing for three days. God, talk about attention seeking, and also it’s not like she’s going to tell anyone about it,” Kara looked up from the stairs and saw Derek and Mykah standing at the door. Derek looked at Mykah whose lip was starting to quiver and a few teardrops trail down her face. Carol looked appalled.

                “Kara?” Kara quickly ended the call and continued down the stairs, acting like no one could hear the conversation she was having on the phone.

                “Hi Mykah, what are you doing here?” Mykah was now full-fledged crying, slowly dropping to her knees in the doorway. Derek’s eyes flashed blue for a second and he walked up to Kara, grabbing the collar of her shirt and lifting her off the ground a little bit.

                “You think its okay to bully another person? You know why she’s crying all the time? She’s watching her dad die. He’s dying a slow and painful death of cancer, and she has to come home to that every single day, and you think its okay to pick on her for loving someone? It’s not,” Derek started to growl and he turned his eyes blue and looked right at her, barring his fangs. “And if you so much as make fun of another person ever again and make them feel bad about themselves, you will be sorry. I don’t care if you’re ten or thirty, I’ll be watching,” He dropped her on the ground and she scampered to her feet. Carol stared at Derek in half amazement, not knowing what just happened. Derek walked out and slammed the door as hard as he could, hearing some picture frames from inside fall to the floor and break. He got in the car, Mykah still crying her eyes out and comforted her. “Shh, it’s okay pup, it’s okay, she can’t hurt you anymore. God you have such a kind heart. If that were me I would have already killed her and dragged her blood all over the school. Do you know how strong you are? I love you so much,” Mykah continued to cry into his shirt and he let her. They were still parked in their driveway, and Derek could hear the faint murmur of screaming coming from the house, the only reason for the murmur was from the intense sound of Mykah’s cries and heart thumping against the inside of her ribcage. Derek then drove his pup home and put her to bed, her crying muffling and her tears dried. He then went inside to check on Stiles, who was asleep, his heart at a slightly faster but steady pace in the bedroom. He gave a thankful sigh and turned out the light before stripping to boxers and crawling next to his beautiful husband. Yeah, he might only have a couple of months left in him, but Derek was going to sure as hell make the best of it, because Derek was never going to get another mate ever again. This was his one shot, and he needs to make sure that it’s worth it on both ends.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Today, Stiles begrudgingly agreed to go to the doctor, due to Derek and Scott’s constant prodding, begging, and empty-ended threats. They reviewed the results of the most recent PET scan after radiation, and also took an MRI. Both of the results came back with predictable answers. Yes, the tumor had grown. No, it was not operable. Yes, this increases Stiles’ risks a lot, no, there’s not really anything they can do now but wait for nature to take its course. The Oncologist offered to sign Stiles up for some trials, but Stiles wasn’t interested.

                “I don’t want to go through any more pain. I can’t do another round of anything. I would rather die faster knowing my family wouldn’t have to watch me suffer maybe another month of live, because I know it’s killing them to see me now,” Derek almost started bawling at that. Because it was true. Even Mykah had told him the night before that she would rather him die than live a few extra months than he was originally going to if he was going to be in agonizing pain. The oncologist shaved a couple months off of Stiles’ “due date” and estimated his time to go around June. It made Derek’s stomach churn in discontent, but he pushed the bile that was welling up in his throat back down.

                “Now, due to your weakness, I would suggest using a wheelchair, we don’t want you to work your heart too hard,” Stiles nodded easily. Derek tried to scent out his emotion. It wasn’t really anything. Content? Neutral? Acceptance? Derek was pretty sure it was the last one. The oncologist also adjusted some of Stiles’ meds (again) and scheduled another appointment for a month, whether depending (He literally said that. What kind of doctor basically says “we’re going to schedule another appointment, but don’t worry about it if he dies”). They all nodded in understanding, and after everything was said and done, Stiles went home in a wheelchair (insisting on wheeling himself out) and Derek held six more prescription slips to fill.

                “Wow, lucky me. Walk into the cancer center and wheel myself out,” Stiles deadpanned, slowly pushing himself out of the chair before folding it and putting it in the backseat. Derek got in the driver’s seat and drove them home. The car was quiet for a while before Stiles finally said something.

                “So, I heard the car leave last night, where did you go?”

                “Oh, you won’t believe this. You know Kara? Well, she’s a little hoe bag,”  
                “Did you just call a ten year old a hoe bag?”

                “I sure did. She started making fun of Mykah at school, so I went over to her house and scared her shitless. Mykah was crying her eyes out because when Kara came downstairs, she was talking about her on the phone, and Mykah heard the whole conversation. She was devastated. That whole family just has issues,” Derek rolled his eyes and drove a little faster in anger.

                “Dumb bitch. Now I wanna get a piece of that. I wish you would have taken me, I’m a fierce person you know,”

                “Yes, I know, but you were sleeping, you know how I feel about waking you up,”

                “Only if it’s an emergency because sleep fights cancer,”  
                “Exactly,”

                “Still though, I want to hit her across the face. No one messes with my baby,”

                “I know,” Derek pulled into the garage and shut the car off. He rummaged around in the back seat to get Stiles’ wheelchair and set it up for him as he pushed himself out of the car seat and into the wheelchair. He sighed, then started to wheel himself inside. Derek was thankful that Stiles could just wheel himself into the house, because he would get furious with the stairs and attempt to climb them, which he shouldn’t be doing.

                As Stiles wheeled himself out onto the patio (slightly popping a wheelie to get over the hump of the sliding glass door), Derek got all of the stuff he would normally use and put it downstairs. Stiles was starting to get used to the wheelchair, and Derek suspected it was from long nights at the hospital with his mom, or when his dad would work a double shift and he would go with Scott to stay with Melissa. Stiles went back inside, texting on his phone, and then accidentally dropping it on the floor. Derek was hooking up the printer and listening to Stiles groan. He looked behind him to see Stiles trying to reach it, groaning. Derek stopped and picked it up off of the floor and sat the phone in Stiles’ lap.

                “Thanks,” He mumbled, wheeling himself into the living room. Derek continued to hook up the printer. Looking at his spouse, Derek pitied the poor man, who was once a bright-eyed boy full of life, now suddenly being restricted. The spark in the boy’s eyes was long gone due to exhaustion, and basically already being a corpse. His skin looked papery thin, his face looked permanently worn, like he had aged ten more years. Stiles then looked back at Derek and Derek knew he was starving too long, but he continued because it was _his_ husband.

                “Whatcha doing?”

                “Taking in every glimpse of you so I’ll never forget,” Derek replayed all of their memories, from the first time he saw the boy in the woods to when he was saving him from drowning. From preventing him from bleeding out when he got shot by a hunger to protecting him from the danger that ended up being Stiles’ self. There were countless times that the human had saved Derek’s ass, and now it was Derek’s turn to do the saving, well kind of. He couldn’t be saved from the inevitable, which was cancer. No, Derek was going for redemption. He was going to redeem Stiles another life to live beyond the grave, and that started with never forgetting him. Derek had also vowed not to love another person other than his pack after Stiles died. He wouldn’t find another spouse, not just because he’s a werewolf and they mate for life, but because he would have lost the spark he had with actually finding his mate, he wasn’t interested in anyone else.

                “I’m gonna miss you,”  
                “I’m gonna miss you more,” Derek pecked a kiss onto Stiles’ cheek and Stiles’ eyes glowed at him. They might not have had the spark of life they once did but they sure as hell could shine and sparkle. His eyes looked like whiskey in a crystal shot glass, the warmth filling your stomach. His eyes were literally filling and warming, and every time Derek looked into them he got swallowed whole.

                “Your eyes are really green. I heard that Ireland had grass that was a green that was gorgeous. I had always wanted to go to a place where the grass was the same color as your eyes,” Stiles gave a small smile as Derek rubbed his shoulders, Stiles leaving his head back and pressing kisses on Derek’s wrist.

                “I’ve never been to Ireland, maybe we could go someday,”

                “Definitely,” They both knew it would never happen. They wanted to talk like nothing was wrong, like life would go on after Stiles passed, because that’s what Stiles would have wanted, but truth be told, he didn’t know if life would go on.

                “Are you up for Mykah’s lacrosse game today?”

                “Considering I’ve missed most of them, I’m definitely going. And shouldn’t we be picking her up from school soon?”  
                “Do you want to go?”

                “Yeah, I’m having a pretty good day today, and now since I don’t have to wear myself out on stairs, I’m good to go,” Stiles smiled warily as Derek grabbed his phone from where it was charging in the kitchen and they headed towards the school. Once getting there, Derek waited for Stiles to get out of the car, letting him do it on his own to prevent the death glare he was given when he had pulled the wheelchair out of the car earlier that afternoon. It reminded him of a conversation they had.

                _“You don’t have to take care of me, I can do things on my own,” Stiles grumbled, crossing his arms as Derek assisted him up the stairs and into his room. Stiles slowly eased onto his bed, Derek smoothing out his sheets as he sighed and pulled up his shirt, revealing a huge scar down his side with staples in it._

_“I just want to make sure you’re going to be okay,”  
                “I know, it’s just, it’s gone now. I don’t have to have people help me, possibly ever again. I can be independent again, and I want to be,”_

_“Okay, okay,”_

_“Just, I was never a person to ask for help. I don’t like that, that’s not me. I don’t want to feel like an obligation,”_

_“You’re not an obligation,”_

_“Well, that’s in your eyes. I just, I don’t want to bring people down with me,”_

Derek then walked next to Stiles who pulled at the wheels with the palms of his hands. Derek waited at the top of the stairs for Stiles to use the ramp, and they then entered the gym. They found a spot and waited for the kids to come flooding in. Someone tapped Derek on the shoulder and he turned around. It was an unfamiliar women who had bleach blonde hair, a pair of pumps, and a women’s suit on (instead of pants, a navy pencil skirt).

                “Excuse me, are you the parents of Mykah Hale?”  
                “Yes,” Derek replied, looking her up and down. She looked concerned.

                “I just wanted to apologize for my daughter’s behavior. Carol called me and told me that Kara and Sabrina were making fun of Mykah. We just moved to town and I’m not using that as an excuse, but my daughter’s behavior was unacceptable,”

                “Well, we appreciate your apology, but it would be better coming from your daughter,” Stiles said, anger filling his face, which didn’t happen often. “Our family doesn’t take bullying lightly. I used to be bullied, and I had a friend who attempted suicide due to bullying, and I later found out that he ended up killing himself a couple of months after their family moved away. You do realize how serious this is, correct?”

                “No, no I realize, just,”  
                “It would be better if your daughter apologized to Mykah, not you to us,” She nodded, staring at Stiles’ wheelchair. Derek could smell embarrassment and anger coming off of him. She looked up at Derek intimidatingly staring at her. She then walked to the other side of the gymnasium and the kids came flooding out. Mykah immediately ran to Stiles and hugged him before hugging Derek. She glanced at the wheelchair, but didn’t see it like the others did. She still saw that it was her dad, maybe not as healthy as he once was, but still the person who taught her music, lacrosse, and art. The person who helped build her personality. Derek couldn’t take much credit for that, because it was pretty much all Stiles.

                “Ms. Spencer wants to see you guys,”

                “What happened?”  
                “I did something,”  
                “Something…?” Derek pressed, trying to get it out of her.

                “Well, I kind of kicked something,”

                “Something?”  
                “Maybe someone,”  
                “Someone??”

                “And possibly punched something,”

                “Something?”

                “Someone,”

                “Mykah…”

                “And made them cry,”

                “…”

                “And possibly bit them, I don’t know,”

                “Who was it?”

                “Sabrina. I made her bleed,” Derek and Stiles both sighed and followed her towards the classroom where Ms. Spencer was sitting at her desk, avidly typing an email.

                “Ah, Mr. and Mr. Hale,” She greeted, getting up from her desk and pulling out one of the student chairs before sitting in it backwards. “I assume Mykah told you why I wanted to have a meeting on such short notice,”

                “Yeah,” Stiles said, crinkling his eyebrows.

                “Well, I didn’t want to suspend her, considering it’s her first offence, and after talking through with the principal, we kind of have an idea on why this was happening, but she didn’t say anything,” Derek gave Mykah the confused “what did you say/ do” face and she made a motion of zipping her lips.

                “Well, there are some girls in her class bullying her. We were confronted with one of the parents about it, and she apologized for her daughter’s behavior. It’s pretty disheartening to think someone could be so rude about differences about someone. She came home crying last night, and I drove to one of the girls’ house and confronted her parents, and she was calling her all of these horrible names and criticizing her from the little scare we had earlier in the month, and I told her to not put up with it anymore, so she fought back,” Derek defended, crossing his arms as he saw out of the corner of his eye Stiles raise his eyebrows and smile, with the face of “you little fucker”.

                “Well, that clears a lot of it up then, and again, since it’s her first offense, and considering the circumstances, but you should really teach her not to bite other people and be so violent. I didn’t know a little girl could possess so much anger towards someone or something,” As soon as Ms. Spencer said it, she looked at Stiles, actually looked at him, and slightly turned her head. Stiles used this as his cue to get up. He shakily pushed himself out of his wheelchair and walked over to her, standing over her and staring into her face.

                “She has a right to be angry. As do I, and as do Derek. We raised our daughter to not give hate to another person expecting others would do the same but we were wrong. I went through most of my life being pushed around by scum like those girls, and the thought of a classroom that allows the children to result to a state of nature sickens me more than I already am. So instead of asking what’s wrong with our daughter, ask yourself what could have been done to prevent this. I’m not saying our daughter is perfect, if she’s anything like me she’s far from perfect, but at the same time, there’s so much that had been happening in the classroom when all you needed to do was pay more attention,” Stiles was nose to nose with the teacher. He pushed his glasses up and turned on his heel before slowly walking back into his wheelchair, Derek assisting him. Stiles started up another coughing fit and Derek lightly hit his back as it subsided. The room was quiet for several minutes before anyone spoke.

                “Is that all?” Mykah asked, a bit annoyed. “Because you’ve been staring at my daddy for the past like five minutes, and it’s rude to stare, is there something you would like to ask?” She nodded, a little dumbfound that a little girl gave her the business.

                “What, happened exactly?” Everyone but Ms. Spencer sighed loudly in the room. Mykah stood up.

                “Cancer’s what happened,” She said bluntly, shrugging her shoulders. Ms. Spencer didn’t say anything for a long while.

                “I, I’m sorry, I didn’t know,”  
                “We didn’t want people to know. We don’t like taking pity from people,” Mykah responded back. “We’re going to leave now,” Mykah then started to walk out of the classroom, and Derek paused before following her, Stiles following behind. Once the classroom door was shut and they were down the hall a little bit, Derek scooped Mykah up and hugged her.

                “Wow, that was awesome, such an adult,” She smiled cheekily and Stiles extended his arms for a hug. She did him one better by (carefully) jumping into his lap and kissing up and down his face. He smiled and kissed the spot on her forehead between her eyes and he then pressed the spot.

                “That’s where all my love is going,”

                “It’s not going to my heart?”

                “It’s going to your brain because you’re smart enough to know where it goes and where you want it,” Mykah closed her eyes and smiled.

                “Okay, done,” She got off of his lap and they went outside, the crowd of kids left to nothing, even the parking lot was deserted.

                “Well, we need to get you home so you can get dressed for your lacrosse game,” Mykah nodded as she shifted Stiles’ wheelchair in the backseat before buckling herself up. Derek saw that Stiles’ heart rate had gone down a lot, and he seemed so much less tired, a little fuller of energy. Derek thanked God for this. Thanked God that everything was partially working out, and especially thanked God that maybe for a while he might have his normal Stiles back who didn’t act like he was sick. Derek knew it was a long shot, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t hopeful that it might happen eventually.

                “Mykah baby, what’s wrong?” Stiles asked, Derek looking in the rearview mirror to see her wriggling her nose vigorously.

                “I feel weird. Is tonight a full moon?” Derek’s heart skipped a beat. Shit. It was. He started breathing a little heavier. How was she supposed to do the game tonight?

                “Yeah, um, yeah it is,”

                “Well, I can’t play, I might maul someone,”  
                “You can’t not play,” Derek said. “That’s just a risk we’re going to have to take,” Derek didn’t feel comfortable. Even though she had gained a lot of control, it wasn’t constant, and that made Derek nervous.

                “She’ll be fine,” Stiles said, putting his hand on Derek’s, which was resting on the gear shift. Derek half smiled, knowing that Stiles was trying to get him calmed down a little bit about it but it wasn’t working very well. Derek pulled up to the house and turned off the car. They were running a little behind. Mykah was already in the door. When Derek walked in, he heard her rummaging in the laundry room. He walked in and saw here jumping for her lacrosse uniform that Derek had washed the night before. He went to reach for it, but she jumped on top of the washer and snatched it before tumbling to the ground, rolling, and running out. She then pulled her shirt off, revealing a bright purple sports bra as she threw on her blue jersey. She then put on the shorts and pulled up her socks before planting herself in front of Stiles.

                “French braid my hair?”

                “Sure thing pup,” She handed Stiles a hairbrush and he gently started to comb through her hair, fluidly pulling the brush, and not tugging. He then started to braid it, a few strands of hair that wouldn’t fit in the braid falling loosely behind her ears. Once he got towards the bottom, Mykah handed him a ponytail holder and a piece of blue ribbon, which he tied over the ponytail holder in a perfect bow. She then turned around and handed him some black face paint and he drew two black lines under each of her eyes. She then dug around in her duffle bag and pulled out her lucky lacrosse headband that Stiles had found when he went on a business trip to the east coast and slipped it in her hair before quickly going to the bathroom and putting a little bit of hairspray on her fly-aways. She then put on a pair of sliders and sat at the bar, where Derek pulled out some pita chips and her favorite hummus from the little natural grocers store downtown. She slowly nibbled at the snack as Derek walked over to Stiles and started to massage his shoulders, pressing a single kiss onto his temple.

                “I love you,” He said, giving Stiles’ shoulders a squeeze.

                “I love you too. By the way, do you have a sign?” Derek nodded and pointed towards the garage. “I didn’t know she was number 24,” Stiles said smiling.

                “She wanted the 4 for my old high school basketball jersey, and the 24 from your lacrosse jersey,”

                “She’s going to be okay tonight, right?”

                “I think so. I have faith in her,”  
                “Do you have a plan,”  
                “Kind of…?”

                “So that means no,”

                “No,”

                “That’s a lie. I don’t need werewolf senses like you to detect that one. Scott has obviously rubbed off on you,”

                “No, I do have a plan,”

                “No eating people Derek, it’s unkind,”  
                “I wasn’t going to eat them,”  
                “No biting, or killing, or mauling,”  
                “Jeez, I was just going to turn into my wolf form and scare the shit out of them,”  
                “Actually not a bad plan, how long did it take you to come up with that one?”

                “While you were braiding Mykah’s hair,”

                “Well, I’m proud of you, your plans are starting to suck less and less,”

                “I don’t know if I should be offended about that,”  
                “I wouldn’t consider it offensive, but you should feel a little sting right about…” Stiles poked Derek’s chest where his heart was. “There,”

                “It kind of does sting,” Derek heard Mykah put her food away and grab her duffle bag.

                “We gotta go, don’t wanna be late, the game is all the way across town,” She skipped into the car and got in the back seat, unzipping her bag and checking if she had everything. Stick. Check. Goggles. Check. Cleats. Check. Water bottle. Check. Granola bar. Check. She then zipped it back up and Derek helped Stiles into the car (“Derek, I’ve got it,” “Stiles, I don’t want you to get hurt,” “I’m still capable of doing things Derek,” “I know, but the safer you are the better,”. Stiles sighed). He then pulled off of their street and cut through downtown. Derek watched in the rearview mirror as Mykah untied some of the strings on the head of her stick and retied them tighter. She then repeatedly pushed her fist in the netting, testing the elasticity before retying a few more strings, and when being pleased with it, looking out the window. Her eyes stared contently at the Mountain Springs preserve that they passed, and she let off an emotion to run. He knew she wanted to, hell, he would go running with her, but not tonight. Maybe after the game, if it doesn’t end in a complete disaster.

                Derek pulled in and found a parking as Mykah quickly exited the car with her bag and stick and ran towards the field. Derek smiled and grabbed Stiles’ hand, helping him out of the car. Stiles seemed a little more energetic than usual today. Maybe it was because he didn’t have to walk anywhere. Either way, Derek was hoping that maybe he would be in the mood to do “other things” later that night. It’s a real cock blocker to have a husband who’s dying of cancer.

                Ugh, the damn C word again. Derek hated thinking about it, but it was hard to not think about it. It was pretty much everyone’s life now. Derek never had so much anger towards something, never thought he would until he heard that dreaded word. Cancer. It just sounds crypt and awful. It’s something that can make any sentence change its mood. You literally can’t say the word Cancer in a sentence and expect it to turn out happy, unless the words remission, gone, and healthy are also in the same sentence. Which doesn’t happen often. What cancer was, was a monster. It was similar to a nogitsune, but at least the nogitsune would spare your life. Cancer would rarely. Or it would play funny games like some whore you met at the bar. Like Kate. They would lead you on, say that they loved you, say that they’ll care for you, and turn around and stab you in the back. Just thinking about cancer and Kate made Derek growl at himself out loud. He was a bit feral tonight. They all were. Stiles turned around and looked at Derek.

                “Something wrong hon?”

                “Just thinking,” Derek grumbled, grabbing the handles of Stiles’ wheelchair and pushing him through the parking lot. They found a spot near the bottom of the metal stands and Derek put the brake down on Stiles’ wheelchair before sitting next to him, Stiles leaning his head on Derek’s shoulder and holding his hand. Derek carefully kept alert on Mykah, seeing that she was getting her stuff prepared and walking onto the field. A ref blew their whistle and the game started. Mykah was running really fast, making a shot as Stiles screamed in excitement and threw up the sign that he had carried over.

                “That’s my girl!” He would yell, pointing to everyone in the crowd. “That’s my daughter, number 24 is my daughter!” Derek would laugh at him and Stiles would lightly punch his shoulder. Toward the end of the first part, Derek saw that Mykah’s claws retracted out and his heart leap out of his chest. He squeezed Stiles’ hand and got up slightly before she looked down at her hand and snapped them back into her hand. Derek then relaxed and Stiles patted his shoulder. “She should be okay,” Derek nodded his head microscopically and looked up to the sky, seeing that there were no clouds covering the moon now. That made him even more nervous. The full moon was even making him anxious, anxious enough to jump out of his own skin, but he didn’t. He kept himself calm as the second part started, Mykah being one of the girls in the face off. He watched as she stared the other girl down, and when the ref blew the whistle, she pushed the ball towards the other side and then went running, another girl from her team grabbing the ground ball and tossing it, to another girl who slammed it into the goal at perfect precision. The rest of the game went like this. A couple of times Mykah’s eyes would change, or her claws would pop out, but she would suppress it and continued to play the game, when it was finally over, she ran over to Derek and Stiles, giving them hugs and smiling brightly.

                “We dominated,”  
                “No, you dominated,” Stiles corrected, kissing her forehead and pushing a couple fly-aways out of her face and tucking them behind her ear. Her eyes changed to gold and then flashed back.

                “We need to get you home,” She nodded and they quickly left, being one of the first families to leave. Mykah started to change in the car, so Derek told her to keep her fists closed so she would keep some control. He would occasionally look back to see blood running from her palms and also from her mouth from where she would bite her cheek with her fangs, and it was running all over the seats. He could see Stiles having a slight OCD attack.

                “How are we going to get out that stain?” He would whisper, shaking his head.

                “You’re not worried that she’s bleeding?”

                “She’ll heal. And she has a lot of blood,” As he said that, she opened her mouth and blood poured out. “Eww,”

                “Daddy, you know if you swallow too much blood that you’ll throw it up, and that’s not good. That’s why you’re supposed to put your head down when you have a nosebleed,”

                “I know,” Stiles sighed.

                “I’ll clean it up when we get home,”  
                “I would rather it be in the car than where people would be seeing it as you spit or spill it out the window,” He shrugged his shoulders. They pulled inside and Mykah went quickly to the kitchen, rinsing out the blood and stripping her lacrosse uniform and into the clothes she had on earlier. Derek opened the back door and she went running out. As she was running, Derek shouted

                “Stay the hell out of Beacon Hills,” And shut the door. He thought in the back of his mind why he was letting her go again, in case something happened like it did last time, but he then wiped the idea out of his head. She was a smart girl, and she knew where and what to avoid now. Derek heard the creak of Stiles’ wheelchair as he put himself near the stairs, signaling for Derek to take him upstairs. He picked Stiles up and firefighter-style carried him up the stairs and up to the room. He put Stiles on the ground, where he shakily walked (holding onto the framing on the wall for dear life) and slowly making his way to the bathroom. Derek head water running and listened carefully for falling or possible dying. That thought made Derek want to throw up. This was his life now? Listening to make sure his husband was still alive? He sighed and then slowly entered the bathroom, seeing Stiles slowly strip out of his boxers and slide into the Jacuzzi. Derek then stripped and got in with him, rolling his shoulders around to relieve the tension in his muscles. Stiles sank down in the warm bubbly water and closed his eyes. Derek knew he was tired. Derek got some shampoo and put a glob in his hand, running it through Stiles’ hair before taking a handful of water and pouring it over his head until all of the shampoo was out. Stiles gave a slight smile.

                “Thanks,” he said tiredly. He shifted and settled back where he was before finally sighing and pushing himself out of the tub, wrapping a white towel around his waist and taking another to dry his hair. He then slowly walked out of the room and into the bedroom, clinging to the wall, before pulling some fresh clothes out of the dresser and getting into bed. Derek followed and slipped into the covers and grabbing Stiles, feeling how cold he was. How skinny he was. He tried to push the thought out of his mind, but it kept reappearing, every time Stiles would shift and one of his ribs would prod Derek in the chest, or his elbow would accidentally hit him in the face. He was like a glass sponge, so delicate and breakable, and just falling might cause him to break his bones. Derek knew he was exaggerating a bit, but he also know that Stiles wasn’t also a healthy, active child that he used to act like. He was an adult. A dying adult. More like an old person who wasn’t that old. “Far too young to die,” Stiles mumbled before turning over. Derek must have been thinking out loud. He knew that Stiles would sometimes sing in his sleep, but this seemed to match almost too perfectly. Derek sighed and turned out the lamp next to his nightstand and tried to drift off to sleep, only succeeding a couple of hours later.

                                ~~~*~~~

                He woke up to Stiles coughing, struggling for breath. It scared Derek shitless and he lightly (well, for him lightly) hit his back and Stiles started to heavily breathe.

                “You okay baby?” Stiles nodded, holding up one finger to give him a sec. Stiles then pushed himself up and reached towards his side of the nightstand, grabbing some pain meds. Derek got up and grabbed the empty glass next to Stiles’ prescription bottles and filled it up in the bathroom before returning it back to him. “How are you feeling?”

                “Not bad, but could be a lot better,” Stiles’ face crinkled in a bit of digestion. Then, it was filled with sorrow. “I know I don’t have long, but all I want to do is last until her birthday, and then I’ll be okay,” Derek knew that Stiles was talking about Mykah. Her birthday was November 17th. It was currently October 25th.

                “Okay. We’ll make that happen,” Stiles hummed an okay and got up from the bed, a little less shaky than yesterday, but still not stable. He lifted his arms up like a little kid signaling that he wanted up and Derek hoisted him to a sitting position on his shoulder. He took him down the stairs and then put him in his wheelchair and Stiles started to roll around the house. He was obviously stir crazy.

                “Work wanted me to drop by. They said they had some stuff for me. I don’t want to clean out my office yet though, or have anyone else do it, just in case, you know?” Derek nodded. He knew exactly what Stiles meant.

                “When do they want you to drop by?”

                “They said tomorrow, any time,”  
                “Okay, do you want me to drive you,”

                “I’m going to say no right now, but I might change my mind,”

                “Offer will still be on the table,”

                “Okay,” Derek sat on the couch and Stiles wheeled himself closer. Derek held Stiles’ hand as he turned on American Horror Story. Derek had already checked Mykah’s room to see that she had left for school, even leaving a note on her amour mirror to say she got home safely. Derek appreciated that. It then sparked a thought in his brain.

                “Remember, we talked about getting Mykah a cell phone because she was responsible? We should do that today,” Derek saw Stiles’ face shift a little bit.

                “Yeah, yeah we can do that, in fact, let’s do it right now,” Stiles wheeled himself towards the garage and grabbed the keys off of the hook for the Jeep.

                “You want to take the Jeep?”  
                “May be the last time I can drive my baby,” Stiles got in the front seat and Derek in the passenger. Stiles usually didn’t let Derek drive his Jeep, it was just kind of a given, and Stiles was especially making a point of doing things on his own currently. He pulled out and headed towards the cell phone store, which was only a couple minutes away. Once they got there, Stiles got out on his own and wheeled himself into the store, Derek following closely behind.

                “Hello, how can I help you?”

                “Yeah, um we wanted to add our daughter to our cell plan,”

                “That’s fine, do you know what type of service you want?”

                “What we already have,” The clerk nodded.

                “What type of phone are you looking for?” Derek looked at Stiles who kind of shrugged his shoulders. “How about something with a lot of color,”  
                “Well, we have the new windows phones, and also the iPhone 5C,” Derek thought about how much music they had bought on iTunes and how she liked to listen to music all the time.

                “We should get her the 5C, think about all the music she has, and also we have iPhones, so it would make life a bit easier,” Stiles nodded and turned back to the clerk.

                “How about the 5C. Derek, what color is she going to want?”

                “Blue,” He knew her favorite color by heart. They went over to one of the stations that the clerk led them to and the clerk pulled up a blue 5C from under the counter, opened it, and got it all set up.

                “I’m going to need you to sign a few things,” The clerk handed over his iPad and Derek signed it. “Do you want a case for it?” Derek debated before nodding his head. “How about a life proof?”

                “Please dear god get the life proof,” Stiles said. “You know how she is, she might drop it somewhere, or drop it in water,” Derek caught on that Stiles was nonchalantly trying to say they needed a phone case that would live up to her werewolfness. The clerk put a clear life proof case on it (so you could see the color) and handed Derek the phone. Derek put it in his pocket and thanked the clerk before they headed over to the school. Stiles was able to go around on himself, Derek being pretty proud of him. Like usual, they went inside and waited for the kids to come pouring out. Derek looked around at the people in the gym. There were several parents who looked at Derek and Stiles with pity, and Derek hated that look. He didn’t need their pity. They would be fine. Another parent tapped Derek on the shoulder.

                “Hi,” Derek rolled his eyes. It was Sabrina’s mom. What was her name? Like Karen or something? Derek didn’t really care.

                “Did you need something?”

                “Well, I was talking with Sabrina, and she mentioned that your husband had, er, cancer?”

                “Yeah,”

                “Well, is there anything you need, anything we can do?”

                “You can make sure your daughter doesn’t talk to mine, and that you get out of my sight,”

                “Sabrina wants to apologize,”  
                “Well, that’s good for her I guess. But you need to teach your daughter that it’s not okay to make fun of girls whose fathers are dying,” She furrowed her brows.

                “He’s dying?” Derek nodded.

                “Yeah. She has to come home to watching him slowly wither away out her sight, what do you think about that?” Karen, or whatever the fuck her name is didn’t respond. “Everyone thinks they know what’s going on, but they don’t. Would you also like to know that she has only one living grandparent because the other one died of dementia when my husband was 11 and my parents died in a house fire, along with all of my siblings except two and another one murdered so many years later? You don’t know shit about what goes on in our lives. You don’t know anything,” Derek walked away and back near Stiles, kissing him on the cheek and squeezing his hand.

                “What was going on over there?”

                “Verbal abuse so dumb bitches don’t talk to us,”  
                “Good, I’m not in the mood to deal with dumb bitches,”  
                “Well that’s good,” Stiles sighed and pushed the sleeves up a little on his shirt, revealing his tattoo. Derek adored Stiles’ tattoo, similar to how Stiles adored Derek’s tattoo.  The kids came out and Mykah came walking out, looking exhausted.

                “Tired?”  
                “Long night, got back late,”  
                “Well, I’ve got a surprise for you,”

                “Really?” Derek pulled the phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “No,” She looked at it and then looked up. “No effing way, that’s awesome!” She started rapidly setting it up as Derek patted her on the back and they went back to the car. Mykah was a bit obsessed with her phone, downloading games and music and making accounts for social media. Derek just shook his head. “Hey daddy, now I can call you if you ever go back to the hospital,” Stiles wearily smiled.

                “Yeah, you’ll have your own phone,”

                “And by the way, I made some new friends today. We started a school club and we’re having a meeting at Abbey’s house. She lives on the street next to ours so I was just going to walk. It starts at exactly 7:57. They have a club like this at the high school, it’s called Young Life and it’s sponsored through the church,”

                “That’s great,” Derek said, smiling. “That’ll be a good group of kids,” Mykah hummed an agreement and went back to her phone.

                Later that night, when Mykah headed out, Derek decided to sit down and talk with Stiles about some things. Well, kind of.

                “So, I was just wondering, you know, if you were feeling up to it,”

                “Yes,”

                “Did you know what I was going to ask?”

                “I’m in the mood for sex, which is rare, and I actually have the energy to hold an erection,” Derek laughed. “I’ve missed it,”

                “Like this?” Derek ran his bottom lip up Stiles’ face before nibbling on the lobe of his ear.

                “God yes,”

                “Or this?” Derek lifted Stiles up out of his wheelchair and put his back against the nearest wall. “Or this,” Derek pulled Stiles’ shirt off and started licking paths up and down Stiles’ abdomen, tracing all of his scars with his tongue.

                “Derek,” Derek took Stiles upstairs, Stiles clinging onto Derek’s lips and pushing his tongue inside Derek’s mouth, and Derek quivered a bit. They went inside the bedroom and Derek pulled Stiles’ shirt off all the way, and then started to create a hickey on his collar bone.

                “Has anyone ever told you that you have perfect collar bones?”

                “Once or twice,” Derek turned Stiles over and Stiles started to tug at Derek’s pants, unzipping the zipper and pulling Derek’s pants as far down as they would go.

                “Are you ready?”  
                “Fuck yes, I’ve been looking forward to this for ages,” They finished stripping and Stiles flipped himself over. Derek started to rub circles into Stiles’ back, and slowly inched his hands closer and closer to his ass. Once his hands got there, Derek squeezed Stiles’ ass and then smacked it. “Derek, shit, I’m not gonna last if you’re going to do that,” Derek smiled and squeezed his hands between Stiles’ thighs, feeling up and down the insides of his legs. Stiles started to quiver as Derek then braced himself onto Stiles by grabbing his shoulders and slowly sliding into his hole, filling him up inch by inch until he was all the way in. Stiles clenched around him and Derek started to breathe a little heavier. He then started to rock into Stiles, Stiles groaning and slightly shifting his hips every thrust that Derek put into him. After a while, they finally started to slow down. It wasn’t one of the most extravagant times that they had sex, considering Derek took it a little easier than usual to make sure Stiles would still be okay. Derek cleaned Stiles up, threw the sheets in the washing machine, redid the bed, and then opened a window. That was the last time they ever had sex.

                                ~~~*~~~

                “Derek?”

                “Yes Stiles?”

                “I love you,”

                “I know that,”

                “I just wanted to tell you that, and I always want you to know that I’ll never stop loving you,”

                “I won’t ever stop loving you too,”

                “What will you do when I’m gone?”

                “Didn’t we already go over the answer to this question?”

                “No, this question is different. I’m asking what you’re going to do if I died. It’s inevitable at this point that I’m going to die, but, what are you going to do?”

                “I’m going to make sure Mykah gets into an amazing college, write books, and live life like you were still here,”

                “You would?”

                “I wasn’t lying when I said that I would keep all of your stuff and expect you to walk right through that door again,” Stiles smiled.

                “Sing to me,” Derek sighed. He hated singing, but he knew how much Stiles loved it.

                “Give me one last kiss while we’re [far too young to die](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f71XfN_DLI),” Derek sang out. Stiles looked at him contently and Derek started another song. “And as you heard, and dare you say. I’ll see you in the future when we’re older. And we are full of stories to be told. Cross my heart and hope to die, I’ll see you with your [laughter lines](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ccFSXgdv5U),” Derek smiled and Stiles snuggled closer to Derek.

                “The only good thing about dying is I’ll finally be able to see my mom again,” That made Derek’s heart twist in his chest. A tear fell down Stiles’ face and he cried into Derek’s shoulder. “I’ll say this until the day I die, but I don’t wanna die,”  
                “No one wants to die,”

                “I’m so scared Derek, I’m so scared of dying,”

                “It’s okay to be scared,” Derek wiped the tear from Stiles’ cheek. “It’s okay to be scared. Because you’re Stiles Stilinski Hale, and you’re not scared of anything, and it’s okay to be scared of a little cancer, because that’s different, and you’ve already kicked cancer’s ass once. You may not do it again, but you scare it. You kicked its ass and it hasn’t had the balls to come back for ten years, and now it’s playing unfair games and brining in bigger guys to do its dirty work. You have a right to be scared,” Stiles chuckled and shook his head a little bit.

                “Thanks,” Stiles sniffled and rolled back to his side of the bed. Derek glanced at the clock, seeing that it was 12:30. Derek pulled Stiles close to him, putting his hand on his wrist, feeling his pulse thump inside his hand. That’s how he wanted to fall asleep; knowing that Stiles would still be alive when he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it took so long to update! I've been busy with life, for example, AP, which I am currently failing. This class will be the death of me, this weekend I had to write two essays due today. WHAT THE HELL PUBLIC SCHOOL?? Anyway, I'm halfway through writing chapter 8, so let's pray to whichever god (if any) that you believe in that I get this posted hopefully sometime before next week. No promises. This week will be easier though. I have my AP test on Wednesday, so no more homework until probably next week for that class. Just going to put it out there that we are nearing the end of the story. Also, confession time: This is going to be the last book in the series as I know of. Depending on the feedback of the last chapter (which I pretty much have written out in my head) I may or may not post an alternate ending. Not sure. But this story (like the other) will have 11 chapters. 10 real chapters and an 11th for the inspirational songs I used to write it and songs for you to listen to if you ever reread it or if you want to fill your ears with music that will make your soul clench when you read another sad fic. As always, if you need some comfort or a few spoilers to ease your pain (or create more) feel free to comment or find me on tumblr. I will answer all the questions! Thank you guys for all the support so far on this story, it literally makes my heart flutter when I get an email from A03 seeing that someone commented or kuduosed and just, you guys are awesome! Thank you for reading!!


	8. Chapter 8

Stiles had to admit, after he was required to be in a wheelchair, he always had a little more energy than he had had lately. He could actually do things like he used to (with the restriction of the chair) and he was thankful for that. One morning, after Derek had taken him downstairs for the day and Derek having to go into work (and promising this would be the only time he would, he just had to talk to his publisher and some other people and they had scheduled the meeting many months in advance before the inevitability of Stiles having cancer was a thing. Stiles understood. He didn’t want Derek or Mykah to stop their whole lives just for him. Like Stiles was well aware of from his childhood, life doesn’t stop for emergencies. He was getting Mykah’s lunch made and also pulling some cookies out of the oven for her to take in her lunch, trying out a couple new recipes for the fall festival that was the following weekend at school. He recalled the conversation that him and Derek had had the night before, about being able to live through Mykah’s 10th birthday. That’s all he really wanted. He also wanted to live to Derek’s birthday, which was February 19th, but he knew that Derek wouldn’t hold it against him if Stiles died earlier than that. He shook his thoughts back and finished packing her lunch, sitting it on the counter and rolling over to the living room, watching a little bit of the news, not really paying attention to it. He heard Mykah come bounding down the stairs ready for school. She grabbed her lunch and put on a pair of converse. She was wearing a light blue shirt with a deer head printed on it, the long knitted shirt flowing over her frame, and the black leggings drawing more attention back to the shirt.

                “Hi daddy,” She kissed him on the cheek. “How are you feeling today?”

                “Not bad,”

                “Whenever I get home from school, will you show me how to play sax?” Stiles stopped for a second. He thought she said to show her how to play sax.

                “You, you wanna learn sax?”

                “I wanna learn it because you play it,” Stiles smiled.

                “Definitely pup,” He patted her on the shoulder. “Ready to go?” She nodded and Stiles rolled himself toward the garage, getting in the Camaro. He started the car and started driving to school. The [Imagine Dragons song Top of the World](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5tWYmIOWGk) came on and Stiles started to sing it, tapping his hands on the steering wheel at all of the heys  that they would say. He pulled into school and got out of the car with her.

                “You don’t have to walk me in,”

                “Well, I needed to drop by the office for some PTA stuff, so I thought I might as well,” She smiled.

                “Okay,” She walked a bit of a slower pace to keep at the same speed as Stiles. Stiles rolled through the halls of little elementary school students and finally got to her classroom. Ms. Spencer stood at the door, giving Stiles the look of pity. He rolled his eyes and turned the wheels of his wheelchair immediately, feeling a tap on his shoulder. He stopped and turned his upper body around to see the teacher, giving a wary smile. He groaned internally.

                “Mr. Hale,”

                “Yes?”  
                “I just wanted to apologize for the meeting we had the other day,” Stiles didn’t really want to listen to her, but he wasn’t going to be rude.

                “Okay, I forgive you, and I’m not trying to rush you, but I have a couple of places to be,” He started to wheel away and she put her hand on his shoulder again. God Stiles hated being touched by people other than his family and his pack. He never had. He turned again and Ms. Spencer looked him in the eyes.

                “I don’t know how you do it,”

                “Do what?”

                “How you’re just, so involved, so selfless even when you have your own problems to deal with,”

                “Well, I don’t really have a choice. I have a daughter to raise, a father to care for, and I’m a perfectionist who likes things done my way,”

                “I don’t know anyone who is so committed to parenthood as you and your husband, especially considering, you know,”

                “Are you saying that homosexuals don’t make good parents?”

                “No, um, just, that’s not what I meant,”

                “Just please, stop talking,” Stiles said as nicely as possible and wheeled away. He rolled his eyes as he went into the office and asked for the PTA list for fall fest. The office woman gave it to him and he was on his way back to the car, and then headed to work. While he was driving, his phone rang and he answered it.

                “Hello?”

                “Stiles?”  
                “Hey Der, what’s up?”

                “Just wanted to see how you were doing,”

                “I’m still okay, thanks for checking,”

                “Just wanted to make sure,”

                “Okay. Please tell me that’s not the only reason you called,”

                “…”

                “Well, alright. I’m headed to work now to kind of pack up the rest of my office and because they wanted me to drop by,”

                “Alright. I’ll be home around 7 tonight, is that okay?”

                “That’s fine,”  
                “Are you sure?”  
                “Derek, I’m not 4, I’ll be fine,”  
                “I just,”  
                “Yeah, yeah, you don’t want me to die,”

                “Just,”  
                “Derek. My mom died, and I know what it’s like to die, to almost die. She first got really bad, much worse than I am right now, and the day she passed it was an amazing day, and she remembered my name, and it was like nothing was wrong with her. An hour and 35 minutes exactly later, she was dead. I’ve been the same the past couple of days. Not good, not bad. I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me. You’ll know if something’s wrong,”

                “What do you mean I’ll know?”

                “You have that connection, when you always know when something is wrong, like when I slept walked out of my house because of the nogitsune, you know everything, don’t worry about it,”  
                “Okay, I just worry,”

                “No shit, you’re calling me in a near panic. If anyone should be panicking, it’s me, I’m dying,”

                “Stiles,”

                “I’m just joking, not really, but you know what I mean. I’ll talk to you later,”

                “Stiles?”

                “Yeah?”

                “I love you, and please be careful,”

                “Okie dokie,” Stiles hung up and went to his original parking spot, seeing that it still had his name on the concrete. He smiled and pulled in, turning off the car and pulling his wheelchair from the backseat. He then took his time going inside, stopping to get a bottle of tea from the café. He took the elevator up to his office and saw that the hallway was covered in streamers and once he walked in, Luanne, Charlie, and all of his other main coworkers yelled surprise and jumped out. “What’s this for?”

                “We knew you may not be back for a while, so we wanted to give you a going-away party,” Charlie said, patting Stiles on the back. “I see you have a new vehicle, looks nice, where can I get one?”

                “You’re funny,” Stiles said. “I’m actually not allowed to allow my heart to do too much work, it’s dangerous, so now I have this wheelchair, and I’m pretty self-sufficient,”  
                “How do you get up the stairs?”

                “I have Derek carry me,”  
                “Oh, Derek,” Luanne fathomed, her eyes lighting up. “He looks like a Greek god,”

                “That’s because he kind of is,” Stile responded, smiling.

                “So, what’s the news?”

                “The news? Well, they gave me a due date, which kind of sucks, but it could be worse, and I’ve been given a date before and look at me, but I know I probably won’t survive. I’m not under any treatment currently,”

                “Why?”

                “Well, none of the treatment was working at all, so I made the decision to stop it altogether,”

                “What did Derek and Mykah think of that?”

                “Well, they were very understanding, they said that they were glad that I wouldn’t suffer for too much longer, and that either way they still loved me,”

                “Your family is great you know,”

                “I know,” Stiles smiled as people gave him cards and flowers and Charlie rolled him towards a table with cake. “Really, you guys didn’t have to do all of this work,”

                “No, it’s just enough. You’ve been one of the best workers here,” Someone passed around champagne and Charlie made a toast.

                “To the rest of Stiles’ life, hoping it will be long and memorable,” People clinked glasses and Stiles drank down the bubbly liquid.

                “Thank you guys, I have to head home to get some things done around the house, and I hope I’m back again,” Stiles smiled as he made his way back downstairs. As he was rolling out the door, someone caught up with him.

                “Stiles!” He saw Mary Beth and wanted to vomit.

                “What do you want? Are you going to try to fuck my husband now? Beat my daughter?”

                “No! No! I’m so sorry. I-that’s not why I’m here. I just wanted to apologize. I heard the news, and I just wanted to show you something,” She handed Stiles a piece of paper with his picture on it. It was an ad.

                “The Stiles Project? Finding cures to incurable diseases in children?” Stiles was astonished. This was the woman who had tried to blow him in his office and she was now doing something completely out of her personality.

                “I started it once I found out. I knew how much you loved your daughter, and I wanted to thank you. I wanted to make this because if your daughter ever got an awful disease, I wouldn’t want to suffer like you did, or anyone for that fact,”

                “So, might I ask, what made your mind change?”

                “Well, I found religion. After what you said to me, about not being able to get anywhere without doing work. I guess that was new to me. Really new to me, but because of it, I became a better person I think,”

                “I thank you, and I hope you do great things in the future,” Stiles gave her a hug and waved her away as he went back to the car. All he could think about on the drive back is how grateful he was for people, and how someone else being less fortunate can make other people realize how to change the world. He exhaled and switched lanes on the highway. He didn’t know why, but he felt weird. He looked in the distance and saw a car coming towards him. A car coming towards him? Stiles immediately pulled off onto the shoulder, waiting for the car that swerved between the lanes to pass. The last thing Stiles remembered was hearing the glass of his car shatter as the car slammed into the driver’s side.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles woke up to a place where he hated waking up to: the hospital. He sighed and looked around, patting himself. Everything seemed fine. He sighed in relief and sunk into the bed. He looked outside to see it was late. A nurse came in to check him over and saw that he was awake.

                “Mr. Hale, we had quite a scare there for a second. You have a major concussion from a car accident you were in. There was a drunk driver on the road and they slammed into your car. Other than a couple of stitches to your head and a little bruising on your chest, you should be okay,” Stiles sighed.

                “So when can I go home?”

                “Well, we called your husband and he’ll be here as soon as possible, but we need someone to take you home, because your car isn’t salvageable and because of the type of concussion, we need someone to look after you and make sure that you don’t fall back asleep for at least 12 hours,” Stiles nodded in understanding. He looked down to see that he still had his clothes on and that he was in a temporary room. He also wasn’t under the covers, meaning he wouldn’t be there long. “It also says right here that you’re a cancer patient?” Stiles thought in his brain, no shit, but he then realized that he must have been at Mountain Springs Regional.

                “Um, yeah, I usually go to Beacon Hills, have some family that works there, it’s a little homier,”

                “Understandable. How are you feeling?” Stiles hated that question.

                “The same...”  
                “What is the same?”

                “In pain but it’s tolerable,” She nodded.

                “Just let me know if there’s anything we can do to make you feel more comfortable,” She left the room and Stiles thanked god. On the table next to him was his cellphone, the screen shattered. He picked it up and pulled the glass screen protector from the top of it and saw the normal screen came out unscathed. He pulled up Mykah’s number and called her.

                “Hi pup,”

                “Daddy! Where did you go? I thought you were going to pick me up from school?”

                “I’m sorry princess, I was in a bit of a car accident on the way up here,”

                “A car accident? Are you okay?”

                “I’m fine, just a little concussion. So listen, I’m gonna be here until Dad can come and pick me up, so are you going to be okay by yourself?”

                “Yeah,”

                “Okay, and how did you get home? You took the bus, right?”  
                “No, the bus left because I thought you were running late, so I ran home,”

                “Mykah, that’s 10 miles,”  
                “Was it?” Stiles shook his head. “Should I come by?”

                “No, stay at home, it’ll be better, okay?”  
                “Okay,”

                “So, how was school?”

                “Good,”

                “Oh shit, I was supposed to show you some notes on sax, wasn’t I?”

                “Yeah,”  
                “Oh shit, I just cursed, oh god I did it again, I’m sorry,”

                “It’s okay. I got your sax out on my own and got a couple of notes out. It’s more fun,” Stiles smiled.

                “Well, alright, I’ll see you later tonight. I’ll see if dad will bring home dinner, yeah?”  
                “Yeah, that sounds great,”

                “Bye pup,”  
                “Bye daddy,” Stiles hung up the phone and put his head in between his knees. He was feeling extremely tired, and he knew he had to stay awake, which made him more tired. He felt a dull pain starting in the back of his chest, and he could feel the cancer, practically feel it growing. He was kind of mad about that. He tried to ignore it, looking at some things on Instagram on his phone, but it didn’t work. He put the phone down and looked down at his Bastille shirt. It was black and had white owls all over it, saying [B∆STILLE](http://www.myplaydirect.com/Bastille/owl-t-shirt/details/29847949?feature-name=t-shirts-and-accessories&feature=29751511) at the bottom of the shirt. He saw that the first two rows of white owls were red with blood and he sighed. He saw Derek come running inside.

                “What’s wrong?”  
                “Nothing, just a car accident, no worries,”  
                “Stiles? A car accident?”  
                “I just have a concussion. Not a mild one, but just a concussion. I have to tell you that the Camaro is totaled,” He thought Derek would be pissed. He ran up to Stiles and sat on the bed and hugged him? Derek wasn’t murdering him?

                “The house could be burned down, we could have lost all of our money, and the world could be ending tomorrow, but as long as you’re okay, it doesn’t matter. We can buy a new one some other time,” Stiles hugged Derek and Derek picked Stiles up. “We need to get you a new wheelchair, eh?”

                “Probably,”

                “I already signed you out,” Derek walked with Stiles out the door and into the Ford Escape, where they headed towards the pharmacy. “Do you want me to take you in, or just FaceTime you?”  
                “FaceTime me, I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it in the door,” Derek nodded and left the car running. Stiles watched as he walked inside and Stiles saw he went to the wheelchair section. There were a couple in different colors, but not many options. Stiles didn’t want anything flashy.

                “How about that black one,”  
                “Is that one good?”

                “Yeah, that one’ll be fine,” Derek picked it up and ended the call, leaving Stiles in the car. He turned up the radio, hearing the song [Save Rock and Roll by Fall Out Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cnBxSB1jUE).

                “You are what you love, not who loves you. In a world full of the word yes, I’m here to scream NO! Wherever I go, trouble seems to follow, I’m only plugged in to save rock and roll,” Stiles loved that first sentence of that. You are what you love, not who loves you. He saw Derek coming out of the store, putting the wheelchair in the back seat.

                “I love this song,” Stiles said as it played in the background.

                “There aren’t many songs you don’t like, are there?”

                “Nope.”

                “Well, let’s get some food and get home, alright?”

                “Alright,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles was exhausted when he got home. He wanted to nap like he usually did, but he wasn’t allowed to for many more hours. He started to cough and it didn’t stop. He felt small hands pound at his back and he stopped slightly.

                “Is that better?” Mykah asked. He nodded.

                “Thank you pup,” She rubbed his back and kissed him on the cheek. “Anything for my daddy,” He smiled and wheeled himself near the stairs, waiting for Derek to take him upstairs, where he would take a shower and then go to bed.

                “Nope,” Derek said, passing Stiles and going towards the laundry room.

                “What?”

                “You have to stay up later,”

                “But I’m tired,”  
                “You could slip into a coma and die,”

                “Where I could get all of the sleep I wanted by the way,”

                “Stiles,”

                “Derek,”

                “STILES,”  
                “DEREK,”  
                “Stiles, it’s just a couple more hours,”  
                “But I’m tired now,”      

                “I’m tired of listening to you complain,”

                “Ugh, will you at least stay up with me?”

                “Well, you can’t get up the stairs on your own, so I guess,”

                “Can we watch Brooklyn-99?”  
                “Fine,” Derek sat on the couch and Stiles wriggled himself from his wheelchair, curling up next to Derek on the couch. Derek took his hand and carefully traced the stitches that Stiles now had in his head. “I can’t take you anywhere, can I?”

                “Nope,” Stiles put his head on Derek’s chest, laying over his legs and then moving his head to Derek’s lap. Derek played with Stiles’ hair, occasionally rubbing his shoulders as they watched their recorded episodes of Brooklyn-99. Stiles would laugh occasionally, cough a little bit, and then calm back down. If Stiles had his head positioned right, he could hear the steady thump of Derek’s heart. He sounded so alive, and Stiles knew that his own heartbeat wasn’t the same.

                “Whatcha thinkin’ about?”  
                “Just contemplating life,”

                “No seriously,”  
                “I am being serious,”

                “Well then, what aspects are you contemplating?”

                “Just, what I’m going to do with the last of my days,”

                “What do you want to do?”

                “Exactly what I’m doing I guess,” Stiles shrugged his shoulders.

                “Okay,”

                “Okay,”

                “Is that all?”

                “I don’t know. Just doing some thinking. I can’t really express it into words, but,”

                “I understand,”

                “Okay,” Stiles heard the alarm on Derek’s phone go off.

                “Well, you can go to bed now. Let’s get you upstairs and into the shower,” Stiles lifted his arms up and Derek scooped him up like a baby and carried him upstairs. There were a lot of things that Stiles didn’t imagine to happen, but even if he did die tomorrow, he wouldn’t mind it, he really wouldn’t. He got the opportunity to do everything he ever really wanted.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Today was Mykah’s 10th birthday. Her birthday was on a Saturday this year, and she only invited one friend. Her name was Zoe and she was from the lacrosse team, and she and Mykah had gotten close after the whole Sabrina and Kara drama. It was really only a family party, with Scott, Kira, Papa Stilinski, and Mama Melissa. Isaac made a surprise visit, along with Ethan, Danny, Lydia, Jackson, and Malia. They all had a mound of presents for their beautiful little niece/granddaughter/goddaughter to open. First, Mykah opened Zoe’s, which was some nice new colored pencils that she had been asking for. She smiled and hugged her.

                “You’re awesome Zoe!” Zoe smiled and Stiles snapped a picture of them laughing as they both tore up the wrapping paper and threw the confetti at each other. Young girls were so simple.

                Next, she opened the one from Scott and Kira, which was some pretty river stones with triskelles engraved into them, and also a couple of woven bracelets that were related to the pack. She tied them around her wrists, thanked them, and then moved onto the next one. The next one was from Lydia and Jackson. Jackson when they had first arrived actually hugged Mykah and kissed her. He was pretty sure that Mykah was his weakness. They had gotten her a whole bunch of clothes (of course, considering Lydia was the fashion princess of New York and London, where she would alternate living depending on the clothing season). Stiles’ dad got her more sheet music (which she screamed at in excitement and jumped up and down, showing it to Zoe who also played piano, having the scores for any instrument she pleased), Mama Melissa got her a new sketchbook and some more acrylic paint, Isaac got her some books he found when he was in San Francisco, Ethan and Danny (who surprisingly got back together) decided on books and iTunes cards, and Malia gave her a bound journal with writing in it.

                “This is what I had when I, well, you know, (she was trying to bead around the bush due to their very human guest in the house) but I thought you’d like it,” Mykah cracked it open, and from what Stiles could see, it was full of werewolf information that she had written down when she got changed back from were coyote to a human, and he knew that she appreciated it a lot. The last present was from Derek and Stiles, and it was a quilt of Stiles’ old lacrosse t-shirts so she would always have his scent. They also got her a locket with pictures of their family they had taken in the summer and that were hanging up around the house. Once they opened presents, Mykah and Zoe went and played in the yard as the adults gathered around the patio fire and talked.

                “So, how are you?” was the first question. The question that Stiles fucking hated.

                “I’m good, could be worse,”                              

                “Well, we all need to visit more often,” Danny said, patting Stiles’ back. He agreed. He nodded his head and pulled at the sleeves on his knitted shirt that bagged over him, once being a little snug. He still shivered, and Derek handed him a sweatshirt, Stiles throwing it over the top. He was cold all the time, and it was only about 60⁰ outside, by no means cold. He had very little body fat to keep him warm anymore, and due to his now shitty immune system, he could never be comfortable, usually being too cold. Derek scooted his chair a little close to the fire and Stiles could feel the heat radiate and warm his face and cheeks. He was thankful for it, he was also thankful for Derek. He was thankful for a lot of things. He was especially thankful that God let him live to see his daughter’s birthday. He was hoping in the back of his mind that maybe he would be able to get to another one, but he wasn’t too confident, not as much due to that he was very unoptimistic, which he was, but just due to the cold hard facts. The way the cancer was progressing, it would kill him, possibly faster, but mostly likely not much slower. Cancer sometimes likes to follow a pattern.

                “So Lyds, how’s the fashion industry?”

                “Well, it’s full of starving models wearing my clothing because even in the 21st century, the fashion world cannot accept normal people modeling clothes without calling it plus modeling,” She popped the p in plus, her lips a darker red. “How’s being a professional sick person?”

                “That’s exactly what I called it actually, but it kind of sucks. At first I was kind of opposed to the chair, but my energy level has raised a little bit since using it. And also, I’ve been trying to live the last of my days in valor,” Stiles did the Napoleon pose and everyone laughed at him.

                “Well, how about we start with some beers,” Scott passed around alcohol to everyone and all the werewolves popped the caps off of the bottle, Derek doing Stiles’ for him. “To Stiles, no matter how many days he may have, three or infinity,” They clinked glasses and drank. Stiles would always remember this moment, with all of his friends and family, enjoying a nice beer, like nothing was wrong. Like nothing changed at all. He smiled, laughed, drank, and it was like he wasn’t sick, like he had never been sick, like he wasn’t dying, and especially like he wasn’t already dead.

                “Hey buddy, how you holding up?” Ethan asked, rubbing his shoulder.

                “Not bad. Glad you came,”  
                “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss my favorite niece’s birthday! Even Danny made sure that we wouldn’t,”  
                “How’s that going by the way?”

                “We’re doing great. We’re thinking about marriage like you and Derek, and possibly adopting,”  
                “That’s a great idea, I hope that works out really well for both of you,” Ethan smiled and rustled Stiles’ hair a bit.

                “I’m sorry,” He said, his expression changing a little bit.

                “Well, me too, but it’ll be okay I think,”

                “Okay. Please do not hesitate to call if you ever need anything, anything at all,”  
                “Okay,” Stiles rolled over to Mykah and Zoe, who were throwing around a lacrosse ball with their sticks in the yard. “Mykah, are you and Zoe going to get some dinner before the wolves devour all of it?”

                “Yeah, just give us a second,”

                “Why did you call them wolves?”  
                “Because they will pick the food clean. Especially Malia over there, she’s like a freaking coyote,” Stiles thought all of this was so funny because he was being serious. When Mykah wasn’t looking, Stiles quickly grabbed Mykah’s lacrosse stick and threw the ball to Zoe. She caught it and then threw it back to him.

                “I didn’t know you could play lacrosse,”

                “I used to be one of the star players at Beacon Hills,” Stiles smiled. It wasn’t necessarily true, but it’s not like she would have known any better.

                “You did?”

                “Yeah, before I got sick,”

                “That’s why you’re in a wheelchair?”

                “Yup,” He put the lacrosse stick on the ground and wheeled back towards the patio, where several tables were set up with food. Everyone brought mountains of food, and they all knew it would be gone by the end of the night. The two girls filled their plates to the brim with mountains of food, along with everyone else, and they ate in lawn chairs around the fire. Once Stiles finished eating (he never really had much to eat these days) he saw that Derek was putting a guitar in his lap. Stiles smiled as everyone hooted and hollered out different song titles. Stiles just chose whichever stuck the most, which was [These Streets by Bastille.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEratQ9p7nM)

                _These streets are yours you can keep them,_

_I don’t want them_

_They pull me back and I surrender,_

_To the memories I run from._

_Oh we have paved these streets,_

_With moments of defeat._

_But even if we won’t admit it to ourselves we’ll,_

_Walk upon these streets and think of little else, so_

_I don’t wanna show my face here anymore_

_I don’t wanna show my face her anymore._

_These streets are yours you can keep them,_

_In my mind it’s like you haunt them._

_And passing through I think I see you_

_In the shapes of all the women._

_Oh we have stained these walls,_

_With our mistakes and flaws._

_But even if we won’t admit it to ourselves we’ll,_

_Walk upon these streets and think of little else, so_

_I don’t wanna show my face here anymore._

_I don’t wanna show my face here anymore._

                They continued this with several song titles until Zoe and Mykah went upstairs to settle in for the night, and Stiles went into the living room to start to settle in when Derek was done. None of the pack wanted to get too wasted, considering it was Mykah’s birthday, and they were all gone after about 1:30. Stiles was pretty trashed. He did his usual thing where he waited for Derek to take him upstairs, but he wasn’t in the mood to take a bath, so he just stripped of his shirt and jeans and cuddled next to Derek in the bed, his body heat enough to keep him warm.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles started to ache. It was about a week after the birthday party and everything started to kind of go downhill. Not at a fast downhill, but one of those hills that you don’t realize is a hill until you put a marble on the asphalt and watch it slowly roll in a different direction. He was more tired than he usually was, and feats that he could usually accomplish after being demoted to “the chair” such as making dinner, and lunch, and doing some laundry, and running errands around town now became a once a day thing. He might make Mykah’s lunch and then go run an errand, but that was the most he would do. He started sleeping more and thinking less. It had been a long time since he had been taking his Adderall, and he was starting to feel a little more withdraw. Not that he didn’t have the energy to be hyper and scatterbrained, but his mind was constantly swimming. He didn’t mind it though. It’s not like he had to keep focused on anything at all anymore. Except when he would proofread Derek’s stories. Derek had already sent two final copy stories to the publisher and was just waiting feedback.

                “Why are you sending in so many stories?”  
                “I wanted to give you the opportunity to read as many as you would have liked, because I know that you liked them,”  
                “No, seriously, I know that’s not the reason,” Derek sighed and put his coffee mug on the counter. Stiles and Derek were having this conversation on Monday, a couple of days before thanksgiving, which was going to be held at Mama Melissa’s house like usual.

                “I wanted to get them done because I know I’m going to be coping for a little bit. I already alerted my publisher on the issue, and so she’s going to give all of the books different release dates like I’m writing them one at a time so I can have some time to mourn and help Mykah and so we can learn to be a one parent slash one dad family,”

                “You’ll be okay,”

                “I don’t know if I will,”

                “You are a fine father, you guys will do without me,”

                “That’s what you think,” Derek chuckled. “Either way it’s going to be hard,”

                “I never said it wasn’t going to be Derek, but I don’t want you to get yourself so worked up over something so little,”  
                “Stiles, it’s not little, you’re not a small thing in anyone’s life. You are a big fucking deal, and without you, there’ll be this gaping hole in my heart, and I don’t know how I would be able to survive. I don’t know what it’s going to be like after you’re gone,”

                “In the possibility of sounding really hypocritical, I’m okay now, and I should be okay for at least a couple more weeks, alright? Figure out all of the stuff happening now, because it’s going to be no good to worry about it,”

                “That was really hypocritical,”

                “You don’t see the words until the positions are switched,” Derek nodded in understanding, nibbling on his bottom lip in complete thought. Stiles always thought it was cute when he did that. He didn’t know why, but it was one of those things that always caught his eye and he never thought anyone else noticed it.

                Derek then got up, and took Mykah to school before going back to the publisher’s office for the second of many more meetings about his book (which he tried to protest, or Skype in, but the printers weren’t very lenient on that).

                                ~~~*~~~  
                Stiles woke up from his nap a couple hours after Derek left to knocking on the door. It took him a second to adjust to the couch that he had fallen asleep on, before he rubbed his eyes and shouted “be right there” before finding his glasses, getting back into his wheelchair, and unlocking the door. In the doorway stood no other than Stiles’ father.

                “Hope you don’t mind I brought lunch,” Stiles shook his head and wheeled himself out of the way, shutting the door behind John who got out the food on the counter. It was Stiles’ favorite pasta from that fancy restaurant downtown. If Stiles was ever in the mood for pasta and not making it, they would always go there, no exceptions. Stiles rolled into the kitchen and stood below one of the cabinets. He really wished that Derek and he would have lowered the cabinets when they first bought the place because even standing up, Stiles could barely reach the dinnerware. John saw the issue and got down two plates as Stiles got silverware. They sat at the kitchen table and slowly ate, Stiles not eating as much.

                “How are you feeling?” Stiles shrugged his shoulders, twirling the fettuccini with his fork but not putting it in his mouth.

                “Tired,” Stiles put a very small bite in his mouth and continued to twirl his fork in the pasta, his elbow on the table like a bored adolescent.  He looked up to see his dad staring at him. “What?”  
                “You just usually eat that up,”

                “I’m not really hungry, haven’t been feeling the best,” Like on cue, a wave on nausea hit Stiles and sent him wheeling as fast as he could to the kitchen where he leaned over the sink and retched. He felt his dad’s hands slowly pat his back as he spit into the sink before he threw up even more until he started to dry heave. His stomach was weak from the anticipation of throwing up again as his dad moved his chair back into the living room and picked up his son, putting him on the couch and throwing a blanket over him.

                “Stiles, do you want me to stay?” Stiles shook his head no.

                “Just get a bucket and put it near me, I’ll have Derek call when he gets home,”

                “I’m going to stay anyway. I wanna make sure you’re going to be okay,” Stiles finally nodded before curling up into a ball.

                “Can you go upstairs and get my meds? I need the one that has a blue label on it next to my nightstand,” John nodded and Stiles closed his eyes, hearing his father’s footsteps thump the wood of the stairs. When Stiles opened his eyes again, his dad was petting his hair and offering him a glass of water and the bottle of pills. Stiles grabbed out three and swallowed them, slouching back down and going back to sleep. He would never forget his dad’s expression. It was like he finally accepted that his son was going to die. He finally saw what Stiles had been talking about. All of the optimism that used to light up his face was gone, and he was more concerned than ever. It was the face that read “I’m not going to be a dad anymore” and it made Stiles physically and emotionally sick to see his once happy father’s face now strung in misery. The only time where he had seen his father in a similar state was when his mother died.

                “My beautiful little boy,” He heard his dad say as he drifted out of reality.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles knew something was off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but when he woke up, he felt things poking his arms. He immediately jerked up and looked around, expecting to be in the hospital, but instead was at home. There was a nurse next to him hooking up an IV and some pain meds as Derek stood behind her. Stiles was still to lethargic to understand what she, or anyone was saying, but he was pretty sure she was explaining to Derek what to do. Stiles didn’t move as she adjusted the line, and then took her equipment and left. He saw his dad holding his hand and Stiles realized he was still on the couch.

                “What is this?” He asked, shifting himself upward a little bit. He saw that he had a PICC line in his arm and an IV.

                “We signed you up for Hospice,” Derek said, slowly sliding his hand down Stiles’ face. “We called the doctor and told him, and he told us that it would be best,” Stiles nodded his head.

                “At least I don’t have to stay in the hospital,” Stiles sunk into the couch cushions and sighed. He saw the time and saw that Mykah wasn’t home yet, and he kind of wished she was, because there was still so much he needed to tell her, and he didn’t know if he could possibly tell her all of it before he died, so he decided that once she got home, he was going to tell her everything, or as much as he could until she had to go to bed. Just as Stiles had thought of that, Mykah walked inside the door and immediately went running towards Stiles.

                “Daddy! What happened?”

                “Nothing pup, I’m okay, they had to call Hospice,” She sniffed the air.

                “You smell sicker,”

                “That’s because I kind of am,” Stiles slowly pushed himself up off of the chair and walked towards the stairs, pulling the IV cart with him. Derek picked Stiles up carefully and Stiles held the cart up, the thing only weighing about 5 pounds. He put Stiles on the ground at the top of the stairs and he slowly made his way to Mykah’s room, Mykah leading the way. Once Stiles got in, He sat on the edge of her bed and she curled next to him. “I wanted to talk to you about a few things,” She nodded.

                “I think I know what this is about,”

                “You probably do, but I don’t want any stone unturned. I’m sorry I’m not going to be able to teach you alto sax,”

                “It’s okay, I found some fingering charts and I’m working on it on my own. And I’m also working at piano and trumpet like you wanted me to,” Stiles smiled.

                “I knew you would princess. I wanted to tell you about what’s going to happen once I pass. It’s going to come soon. Not really soon, but soon enough. I want you to look after your dad, make sure he’s going to be okay. I’m worried about him, but I know you’re strong enough to cope with this. The other main thing is that you are a smart, beautiful young girl who’s really going to go places,” Mykah smiled and kissed Stiles’ forehead.

                “When you leave, I’m tattooing my body like you did,” Mykah motioned around her arm and Stiles nodded.

                “I give you permission to do what you need to do. I understand the significance of tattoos with werewolves,” Stiles rubbed her shoulder. “I don’t want you to be too upset when I go, okay? If anything, I want you to celebrate the day, have a picnic, do something fun, and all I care is that you don’t mourn the day like me and my dad,” Mykah nodded. “I also want you to be who you want to be, and always remember that no matter what you do, what other people do to you, those words don’t define you. Don’t let them scar you, don’t let them influence them, because any you that you decide to be is the one I will always be proud of present tense,” A small tear dropped down Mykah’s face and she cried into his chest.

                “I don’t want you to leave daddy,”  
                “I don’t wanna leave either, I don’t really have a choice though, but if I did I would stay here in a heartbeat, you know that,” She wiped her face and nodded.

                “I know,”

                “Well, how about in the mean time I have you help me with a little task, eh?”

                “Okay,” Stiles whispered the idea in her ear and she perked up a little bit. “Start tomorrow?”

                “As soon as you get home from school!” She squealed excitedly and went to get up, groaning about how much energy it took. She carefully pulled him up and he thanked her as he slowly went into the study where he knew Derek was. He saw Derek with headphones on going through paperwork. Stiles sat next to him, seeing that Derek didn’t notice him. He looked over Derek’s shoulder to see that it was all stuff for Hospice that he was reading through and he had a couple of funeral pamphlets that he probably planned to give to Stiles later. Stiles sat down and grabbed a pen and started to write a couple of things down that Derek would probably need later. He folded the pieces of paper up and carefully slipped them in one of the folders that Derek was using but had neglected for the minute. He then slowly snuck out and went into their bedroom, sleeping on top of the covers and waiting for Derek to get him when he was done.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Derek kissed Stiles awake, dragging his bottom lip down Stiles’ face. He looked up and smiled.

                “Hey there sleeping beauty,” Derek cooed, brushing some of Stiles’ bangs out of his face. Derek walked next to the bed towards the IV tower and unhooked the IV and the PICC line. He then took medical tape and wrapped it around Stiles’ arm where the PICC line and IV were and helped him towards the bathroom. Stiles saw that Derek had already drawn him a bath and he sighed in relief.

                “You’re just perfect, aren’t you?”

                “I try,” Derek smiled, pulling Stiles’ pants off of his hips and his shirt over his head before putting him in the tub. Derek, as usual, got in next to him.

                “So, what were you working on?”

                “Oh, just some stuff with Hospice, and also funeral arrangements and stuff, which I wanted to talk to you about,”  
                “I don’t care, just please dear god don’t put my full first name on the gravestone. That’s it,”  
                “Okay. On another note, how are you feeling?”

                “To be honest, not good. I don’t feel very good at all, and I know it’s just going to get worse, and I’m especially not looking forward to that day,”

                “Well, no one is, so,”

                “Isn’t that the truth,” Stiles shifted and slipped a little bit, Derek catching his arm. “I hate being so weak. I can’t climb the stairs, I can barely sit up without flumping forward and I barely had the energy to get up when I needed to vomit. What is life?”

                “Life is nasty, short, and brutish and then you die,” Derek replied.

                “Are you quoting John Locke to me right now?”

                “Or was it Thomas Hobbes?”

                “I don’t have the energy to think about who it was, but that quote has a new meaning of true starting right now,” Stiles sighed and closed his eyes. “Yeah, it was Thomas Hobbes,” Derek threw a victory fist onto the air and Stiles sighed. “Why is living so much energy?”

                “What do you mean?”  
                “I mean, all of the things you just do automatically, when you get sick and can’t really function, like, even breathing is hard. Maintaining focus is hard, not just because of ADHD, but like just straight thinking. Remembering to eat. It’s a lot of work when you need to remind yourself to do those things,” Stiles said tiredly. Stiles slowly got out and dried himself off, getting himself dressed before crawling back into bed. Derek hooked him back up to the IV tower and Stiles cursed under his breath. As he did so. He then started to drift back to sleep as a thought went through his brain: what if I don’t wake up? Stiles didn’t want to be okay with the thought, but he was also tired of feeling like shit constantly, tired of feeling the ache of pain everywhere, just tired of living, but he knew he needed to do it. For his daughter. For his husband. For Scott.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles was pretty exhausted when Thanksgiving finally rolled around. Derek let him sleep in as long as possible before it was indefinite that they had to leave. Stiles got dressed in a sweater and some black jeans and put on some converse. Stiles had to ensure Derek that he would be okay for a couple of hours without his pain medication through his PICC line and he taped it down to Stiles’ arm. They finally left and headed over to Melissa’s house. Once they got there, they started getting situated in the living room, watching the game. John was yelling at the poor passes by the teams that were playing, and Scott was looking at it with a little bit of confusion.

                “Why are we watching this when the Men’s lacrosse championship is on?” Scott complained. John gave him a smack at the back of the head, not adverting his eyes from the screen.

                “Football is for thanksgiving, not lacrosse,” Melissa then called everyone to come into the kitchen. Derek and Scott both helped Stiles out of his wheelchair and into one of the wooden chairs. Everyone passed dishes of food around the table and started to eat quietly. Stiles thought in the back of his head about how this was probably going to be his last thanksgiving, and how he wanted to cherish every part of it, even watching football (which he enjoyed the least), eating the food, and even just being with the whole family, the whole pack. Stiles lifted his glass and clanked his fork next to it. He pushed himself up with the table and everyone looked up to him.

                “I just wanted to tell you all that I’m more than sure this will be my last thanksgiving, and I’m glad I get to spend it with you guys,” Everyone smiled and a small tear fell down John’s face. “So tonight, I’m going to go around and say what I love about each person. Stiles looked at Kira first.

                “Kira, you have been an amazing sister-in-law and you make Scott incredibly happy. You have such a kind heart and you’ve done some amazing things and I am proud to have you as the god mother of my child,

                “Scott, you have been my brother since sandbox days and you’ve always been there for me. You are a great uncle to Mykah, you do everything you can for me, and you’re an amazing alpha. I hope when I’m gone that you continue to grow the pack,         

                “Melissa, you’ve been an amazing mother. Even when my mom was no longer there, there were many times that you took me under your wing and for that I am grateful. You are just all around a wonderful woman who has helped me so much through the process of my sickness, and I know you’ll continue to do great things once I’m gone,

                “Dad. I mean, what’s not to say? You’re my dad, and you’ve supported me through all of my goals and even when things go tough, you still pulled through, and I look up to you as an amazing father, person, and an amazing sheriff whose kept the world safe for his son,

                “Derek, you have been the best husband I could ever ask for. You’re more than I have ever expected, more than I ever imagined, and a great father. You will do fine when I’m gone, and you’ll do such a good job that most two parent households won’t be able to keep up with you. I mean look at you now! You’re taking care of me, of Mykah, and even writing book sin the process. That, is amazing,

                “Last, but certainly not least, Mykah. When I was told I was getting a daughter, I didn’t know what to expect, because, a 19 year old and children, like, what should you expect? But you have been more than I ever expected. I would be happy if you got good grades and were overall a good kid, but you’re playing musical instruments, you do amazing art, you’re in the gifted program, you’re good at everything, and you’re going to turn into a very amazing well rounded young girl,

                “I just wanted to tell you all that I love you guys, and I am so grateful to have every single one of you in my life,” Stiles lifted his glass, everyone said cheers, and they clanked glasses. So maybe moving on would be a little easier.

                                ~~~*~~~

                To say that the next week went by in a blur to Stiles was an understatement. He couldn’t remember waking up from falling asleep, and nothing was ever focused. He thinks it might have to do with the medication, but the only thing he focused mainly about was staying alive. Breathe in. Breathe out. Feel the pain. Try to ignore it. Breathe in. Breathe out. It was a pattern he had gotten into doing. He never focused to the faces that would rotate around him, or the change in location, but just breathe in breathe out. He would sometimes try to watch TV, he would also try to read a book or two, but it never worked out quite that way. The only thing Stiles ever did was slept, laid nearly inanimately awake, and tried not to die. He knew his day was coming soon, he could feel it. He could feel it in his heart, which was weak from all of the effort to talk, to breathe, to keep his eyes open, and that’s the only thing that he could ever do. He was constantly trying to interact, to try not and act like a lifeless vegetable, but it wasn’t really working. The pain was always too much, too overwhelming, so he would keep to himself unless it was important.

                It was during this time that Stiles wished that he had a monitor to translate his thoughts. Thought took energy, but not as much energy as talking, or motioning. He would sigh inside his head as he would try to readjust himself wherever he was (usually the couch). Derek stayed home more. Stiles was grateful for that. Derek would also spend every waking minute with him, massaging his legs and shoulders, telling him how handsome he was, and Stiles would manage a smile. Some days Stiles was able to get up, never walk, but sit up, eat a little food (usually a spoonful of apple sauce or something similar), maybe a sip or two of water (other than taking pills) and for a little bit, the pain was bearable, but it was never a glorious moment like before you would die, because the pain was still awful, but Stiles could manage, barely.

                “Do you think you might be going soon?”  Derek asked Stiles one day as he sat and brushed through Stiles’ hair with his fingers. Stiles loved when he did that.

                “I think so,” Stiles said quietly. His throat was raspy when he talked and his lips were dry.  “Will you do me a favor?”  
                “What is it?”

                “Get me a mirror,” Derek went into the other room and gave Stiles a small hand mirror. He looked into the mirror and thought that he was looking at a picture of someone else. He couldn’t recognize himself. His lips were cracked and blue, he had major dark circles under his eyes, his cheeks drooped and his eyes looked lifeless. Stiles looked down at his hands to see bruises running up and down his arms, bruises from accidentally brushing something or hitting something when he would move around, and he knew they wouldn’t go away. His fingers were long and skinnier than usual. Stiles looked back into the mirror to see that his hair had even thinned from lifelessness. He looked like a walking corpse, and he wondered how anyone was even able to walk into the room and see him as a human. He handed the mirror back to Derek, who sat next to him on the couch and held his hand, like he usually did. Stiles didn’t get how Derek could be so patient, and could just be with him at every waking minute to comfort him when the moment arose.

                “You’re still beautiful,” Derek said, kissing Stiles’ face. “You’ll always be beautiful no matter what,” Stiles gave a half smile.

                “Thanks,” He scooted closer to Derek on the couch and closed his eyes. He was glad that he wasn’t at the hospital, with all the noise. The room was quiet. He just heard the drip from an IV, the ceiling fan, and the steady breathing from Derek.

                “It’s okay, you can let go,” Derek said, squeezing his hand a little harder. Stiles shook his head.

                “I’m not ready yet. I know I won’t last too much longer, but I know it’s not quite that time yet,” Stiles slowly blinked and looked around, looking at all of the pictures on the walls. There were pictures from when he and Derek had just gotten married, the pictures that Lydia took, and there were also many different family pictures from all of the years. Stiles looked at the most recent one, glad that they had decided to take the pictures in the summer that year instead of closer to fall. The pictures made Stiles wonder if Derek was going to send out Christmas cards, because Stiles was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to last that long. He wasn’t going to be able to stay with Derek for his next birthday. Or Mykah’s next lacrosse game. Or her graduation. Or her first date. He was going to miss so much when he left, and that made him whimper a little bit.

                “Are you okay?” Stiles fucking hated that question. And that was his last straw. He broke down and started to cry. Derek pulled Stiles onto his lap and rocked him back and forth, shushing him. “Shhh, everything’s okay, everything’s okay,”

                “Derek, it’s not! I’m going to miss out on our whole daughter’s life! I won’t get to see her get married, I won’t see my grandchildren, I won’t even see her turn eleven, let alone any age other than ten,” He wailed into his chest, which was hard because he really didn’t have the energy to force out each sob. Derek didn’t say anything else, but there wasn’t anything to say at this point. They all knew it was true. There was nothing to counter, nothing to contradict, and nothing to soften the blow of reality that had finally hit Stiles square in the soul. Stiles didn’t want to die. He had said that all along and now he especially didn’t want to die. He finally stopped crying and sighed, letting the silence sink into the room. “Navy,”

                “What?”  
                “That’s the color I want for my death suit. Navy,” Stiles was shaking a little bit from the coldness of the room and Derek took the blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over him.

                “Anything else?” Stiles looked down at his finger where his wedding band usually sat, but it had been too big for a couple of months now.

                “Give my wedding band to Mykah. I want her to keep it,” Derek nodded.

                “I can do that,”

                “And also she can have any of my things that she wants,” Stiles looked into Derek’s emerald eyes and just stared for a while. “You have to promise me something,”

                “What’s that?”

                “You have to promise me that you’ll look after my dad. Make sure he doesn’t start drinking again. We have Melissa, but think about it, we kept the secret of Scott being a werewolf for nearly a year and she didn’t notice, she might not notice his drinking. Not many other people than Scott or I realized that he was drinking so heavily,”

                “Okay,”

                “Derek, you have to promise me,”  
                “I promise,” Stiles looked back up at him and smiled.

                “Thank you. I love you. I’ll love you forever, present tense,”  
                “I’ll love you until the end of time,”

                “I’ll love you even when the sun pulls uncontrollably out of orbit and burns all of us alive,”  
                “I’ll love you even with the probability of impending oblivion,”  
                “I love you,”

                “I love you more,”

                “Are you ready?”

                “Ready for what?”

                “To go?”

                “No,” Stiles sighed. “I’m not ready, but I’m trying to come to terms with the inevitable. It’s hard though. Again, I’m basically committing suicide. Its parts of me killing me. Thank you The Fault in Our Stars for giving me insight on what that’s really like,” Stiles pushed himself to a sitting position and Derek carefully unchained him from the IV tower and took him upstairs. He put him to bed and Stiles wrapped himself up in the covers.

                “I need to go pick Mykah up, and the Hospice lady will be here later to draw blood, check your vitals, you know. I’ll be back soon, okay?” Stiles nodded and curled up. Stiles looked at the IV tower and wondered why Derek hadn’t hooked him back up, then looked to see that the small bag of morphine was empty. Stiles curled towards Derek’s side of the bed, occupying the middle of the bed and closing his eyes, not going to sleep. He could hear the dishwasher run, and also the dryer. He also heard the fan flutter above him. He was cold, even in layers, and he couldn’t get warm, yet he didn’t have the energy to shiver. His breaths were still shallow and uneven like usual, and he still had pain in the back of his chest. Breathe in. Breathe out. Bear the pain. Don’t die. Breathe in. Breathe out. Bear the pain. Don’t die. The sound of his heart beat filled his ears as he tried to drift off to sleep.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles woke up next to the poke of a needle in his arm. He didn’t move, just waited until he felt it slide all the way in and slowly lifted his head. He saw Derek next to the Hospice nurse. He looked at the nurse as she filled a couple of tubes full of blood before flushing out the small line and wrapping his arm where the small prick was. She asked Stiles to sit up and he did, having a little bit of issues. She listened to his heart and to his lungs before letting him lay back down.

                “This sucks,” Stiles said, turning on his side.

                “I know,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What? Me posting two chapters in the same week? What? Yeah, I know right? Anyway, I am working on Chapter nine currently, but it's going to be a hard one to write, and you'll see why later. You'll especially need the tissues and comfort for that chapter because it's going down. Get ready to cry. And as you have probably noticed, I had some spare time and I'm starting to hyperlink all of my songs/etc tidbits in the story, and I'll do that for the rest of the chapters :) If anyone wants me to make any art for this story, please just let me know and I'll make it and link it immediately. Also, the Bastille bird shirt, I haves it, and it's my favorite shirt in the world! Thanks for reading, and thanks for the kudos/comments/etc. I can tell you that it's going to be at least another week or so before the next one goes up, so in the meantime, take your time and enjoy your happiness while it lasts, because it won't last long


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter you've been waiting for. You're going to have to mentally prepare yourself for what's to come. Have fun, and I support you!

**Derek:** Derek could see Stiles withering away. He knew he wasn’t going to make it to Christmas. Everyone knew he wasn’t going to make it to Christmas. And Derek was especially sad when Stiles woke up today, and he was actually able to get up and walk himself down the hall with minimal shaking. This was going to be Stiles’ last good day. Derek saw him at the top of the stairs as he made breakfast. He looked at the calendar and there was a green circle around the date. December 8 th. It was the date Derek had circled a couple of weeks ago. It was the date he expected Stiles’ last good day, or last day to be. His stomach turned sour as he watched Stiles slowly made it down the stairs with very little hesitation. God. How did he suspect the date? How the fuck did he manage to guess the exact date of this.

                “Hi hon, how are you?”

                “I’m not feeling too bad,” Stiles said, sitting at the bar. Derek could hear Mykah coming downstairs. As soon as she got down the stairs, she looked at Stiles, who turned around, got up, and gave her a hug.

                “Oh shit,” She said. Normally, Derek would be a little upset with her cursing, but it was exactly what Derek was thinking. She then started to cry. And scream. Derek wanted to do the same thing. They needed more time. They needed much more time than this. Derek got her off of the floor and escorted her up to her room to calm her down.

                “It might not be today,” Derek said, trying to ease her anger and sadness.

                “No, no, no, no it’s not like that dad, I know it. It’s going to be today. Have you smelt him? He smells like a corpse dad, he’s going to die,” She shook her head and grabbed her backpack. “I’m going to school, I can’t stay here anymore,”

                “Don’t you need a ride, the bus doesn’t come for 20 minutes,”  
                “I’ll walk,” She then put her backpack on the sub roof through the window and jumped down to it, putting her backpack on and jumping to the ground before running off onto the street towards the school. Derek sighed and went back downstairs, continuing to make breakfast.

                “Derek, I think-.”  
                “I already know,” Derek cut him off, putting some eggs on his plate. “What do you want to do today?”

                “I want to go outside. I want to hear the birds sing one more time, see the sun,” Derek nodded and walked with Stiles outside. He was still really wobbly on his legs, but he was able to walk, even with a little more effort than one would usually have to use. Stiles sat in one of the patio chairs and breathed in the fresh air.

                “I’ve enjoyed my life,” Stiles said after a while. Derek listened to his heartbeat. It was uneven. Derek was keeping his eyes and ears close on Stiles, making sure he wouldn’t drop dead at any second.

                “I’m glad,”  
                “It’s been good. It’s been a good run Derek,” Stiles leaned over and locked lips with Derek. Derek felt his face, felt the life still pumping through his veins and wanted the moment to last forever. The thing that made Derek pull away was that the moment wasn’t going to last forever, and that soon his mate, his one true lover and husband, was going to die. Once they pulled away, they sat outside for a couple more hours before going inside. Stiles started to go up to the art studio, pulling out a piece that he started and never finished. He then took out some paint and started to get to work on it. “I have to finish this Derek,”

                “If you would have kept it unfinished, I would have lost my mind,” Stiles did elegant brush strokes, flicking his wrist the perfect amount to create a good fan effect. Derek could watch him paint all day if he wanted. Stiles turned on some music and continued to paint away. When he finally finished, it was a painting of two holding hands, one of them with a red sleeve and the other with a triskelle on it. He put the painting on one of the easels to dry and then went across the hall towards the study. He sat at the piano and stretched his fingers. He played a couple of chords and then started to play a song.

                “When all our friends are dead and just a memory we’ll lie side by side it’s always been just you and me for all to see. When our lives are over, and all that remains are our skulls and bones let’s take it to the grave. And hold me in your arms, hold me in your arms, I’ll be buried here with you, and I’ll hold in these hands all that remains,” He stopped and pulled out some sheet music from their music collection and picked out a couple of pieces. The first piece was amazing grace, and Derek could barely contain himself. “I can’t wait to see my mom,” Stiles said, his eyes beaming. “I’ve missed her so much,”  
                “I know you have,” Derek sat at the piano next to Stiles and he smiled. He pulled Derek’s right hand up to the low keys and Derek knew what to do. He started to play the 4 chords as Stiles did the rest with his other hands.

                _I used to rule the world_

_Seas would rise when I gave the word_

_Now in the morning I sleep alone_

_Sweep the streets that I used to own._

_I used to roll the dice,_

_Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes_

_Listen as the crowd would sing,_

_The old king is dead long live the king._

_One minute I held the key_

_Next the walls were closed on me._

_And I discovered that my castles stand,_

_On pillars of salt and pillars of sand._

_I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing,_

_Roman Calvary choirs are singing._

_Be my mirror, my sword, and shield_

_My missionaries are on foreign fields._

_For some reason I can’t explain,_

_Once you’re gone there was never_

_Never an honest word,_

_‘Cause that was when I ruled the world._

The chords rang through the room loudly and audibly and they stopped.

                “Remember when you first played this?”  
                “And you told me to marry you?”

                “Yeah,”  
                “I’ll take you up on your offer,” Stiles chuckled, hugging Derek. The day was almost up and there was still plenty to do. Stuff that needed doing, but Stiles said that he did all of his main things he wanted for that day, so he sat with Derek in the living room and they finished the last two episodes of Breaking Bad. Mykah rode the bus home and then spent the rest of the time watching Tangled with them, because Stiles promised to watch that movie, and then they watched Mulan, because it was Mykah’s favorite movie. They had hot wings for dinner because Stiles had requested them, and they ate for what they were hoping wasn’t the last time, but facing reality, they all knew it would be their last dinner as a whole family. They exchanged very few words. Once it was around time to go to bed, everyone gathered as Stiles crawled between the covers and got situated for that night.

                “Mykah, I just wanted to tell you, that no matter how people treat you, [you are what you love, not who loves you](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=save+rock+and+roll+fall+out+boy),” A tear dripped down Mykah’s face and she hugged Stiles.

                “I love you daddy,”  
                “I love you too,” She waved goodbye and went back to her room. Derek crawled next to Stiles and Stiles curled himself around Derek.

                “I want to be the big spoon tonight,” Derek nodded his head and turned out the light, turning his head to see Stiles’ gorgeous face, and that goofy smile lighting it up.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Stiles Stilinski Hale died on the night of December 8th. When Derek woke up the next morning, he couldn’t breathe. Stiles’ arms were still wrapped around him, and the only thing Derek could do was cry. He cried and didn’t move at all. He wanted to keep Stiles’ arms around him like he was still alive, like he was still there to call him Sourwolf and to sing him songs and draw him pictures and to love him, but that wasn’t the case. Derek watched as the double doors of their room creaked open and Mykah stared Derek in the face, seeing the tears, hearing his sobs. She looked at Stiles, and then back at Derek. She then broke down crying and ran over to the bed, kissing and hugging Stiles’ body.

                “I love you daddy, I love you so much daddy,” She then fell at the foot of the bed and sobbed. Derek got himself composed enough to slip out of Stiles’ arms and call 911.

                “Yeah, this is Derek Hale, 301 Allegro Lane, my husband died. Yes, it was expected. No, cancer. Okay. Take your time,” Derek hung the phone up and held his daughter in his arms as they stared at him. He was completely inanimate. Derek checked his pulse again, even with his ear to his chest, but there was nothing. His body was cold, colder than usual, like a corpse. His husband was a corpse. Derek still didn’t know how he was going to process this. He and Mykah then locked arms and she cried into his chest as tears fell down his face and into her soft chestnut hair. The doorbell rang and Stiles went downstairs, opening the door to see John, Derek still holding Mykah at his hip as she sobbed into his shoulder.

                “So, it’s true,” John walked in the door, a tear falling down his face. Derek then started to cry as they slowly made their way up to the room. John went running to Stiles’ body, hugging it and kissing his forehead. “My son,” He said, brushing his face one last time. “I love you,” They all left the room and stared breaking down crying again.

                “I, I’m so sorry,” Derek said between sobs.

                “S-okay. I, I heard from dispatch. They called me soon after you called and I was hoping that they might have gotten the address wrong or something, so I hauled ass over here, and,” John started to wipe his face of the tears. “Oh god Derek, he’s gone,”

                “I know,” John started to calm himself down.

                “At least he’s with Claudia now,” He said before sitting on the couch. Derek started wiping his eyes, completely cried out but still heartbroken on the inside. His wolf whimpered, scratching at the inside of him to get out. Mykah crawled out of his arms and onto John’s lap, crawling close to him as Derek sat next to John and took deep breaths. The door opened and EMTs came in with a gurney. Derek led them upstairs, where they checked his vitals, determining the time of death to be about 3:30 am. Derek picked him up and carried him downstairs, the last time he would ever do that. Or the last time he would ever hold him again. He put him on the gurney and they wheeled him away.

                                ~~~*~~~

                The funeral was three days later. Mykah didn’t go to school that entire week, and one they got to the church, they saw that the front stage was littered with bouquets of flowers, all from different people. Derek’s heart softened as he saw that. He looked over to see the casket, seeing it open and Stiles laying inside, his hair styled like he usually had it, using the blue suit that Stiles had gotten ten years ago when he thought he was going to bite it the first time, the weight loss making it fit perfectly. His cheeks look like they had color, his lips didn’t look blue, and he looked as peaceful as he could have. Derek took a deep breath and walked over there, putting his fingers at the corner of the casket. He then walked away and walked over to Mykah, who was wearing a nice pair of khaki pants, dark blue vans, and a beautiful floral sweater (mostly with blue hue) that Stiles had picked out for her. She had her hair French braided back (Derek did it, and it wasn’t half bad, but not as good as Stiles’ braids) with small baby blue carnations pushed into parts of the braid. She had refused to wear black, same as Derek, or any of the pack. Stiles wouldn’t’ve wanted it that way. Derek went with a nice pair of dress pants and a blue cardigan. They sat at the front pew as the pack started to file in. No one said a word. They were all there early for their private version of a wake. Mykah got up and looked into the casket at Stiles, kissing him on the cheek and getting on her tip toes to hold his hand and then hug him.

                “I love you,” She whispered. “I love you present tense,” Derek felt tears welling up in his eyes but he pushed them back as he kissed Stiles on the lips, brushing through his hair.

                “You were always my beautiful mate,” Derek gave him one last kiss and reached into his pocket, insuring that a special piece of notebook paper was still in there. He sighed in relief and sat back down, waiting for the rest of the pack to say their goodbyes. Scott was crying. Not wailing, but the silent wrecked crying that was almost worse than the hiccupping wails. John didn’t cry. His face was neutral, and Derek was surprised at his lack of alcohol smell. Derek knew he stayed sober for Stiles, not saying there might have been a little drinking. Derek wouldn’t’ve judged. He himself was hammered later the night once it happened. John grabbed his son’s hand, gave it a squeeze, and then sat back down. Once everyone was there, the pastor arrived, sitting off to the side of the first pew. All of the other non-pack/family people started to file in, the room filling up very fast and it getting to the point where people were finding spots to stand. Derek was surprised at the turnout. Once it seemed like the flood of people was lessening, the pastor made his way to the front and started to talk. If you asked Derek what he said, he wouldn’t’ve known. He wasn’t listening to him, instead, focused on the people that were there for Stiles. Many people, very few that Derek had ever met, and even a large group of cancer patients. Derek tuned back in when he heard his name. He got up, pulled his sleeved down to his fingertips and stood at the podium. Many eyes were looking at him as he stuttered a couple of ums as he pulled out the piece of paper. He unfolded it and saw Stiles’ chicken scratch writing and he calmed down a little bit.

                “Erm, hi, I’m Derek, Stiles’ husband, and I, uh, I’m sorry, I’m a little nervous,” Derek’s hands were shaking and he was stuttering even more. “Um, so, Uh, Stiles. He was an amazing husband, he, um, he was a pretty great father, and a loving person in general,” There was some chatter in the crowd of people and Derek took another deep breath, looking to Mykah, who gave him the look of “well, go on now”. “No one loved Stiles more than me, his daughter, or his father. I mean, what wasn’t to love? He was smart, he was courageous, he loved Mykah so much, and he was selfless. I love him so much. Um, he wrote me a letter I came across a couple of days ago, and one of his coworkers has established a program called the Stiles project to help other cancer patients and their families. And I think that’s amazing. Me and Stiles, we had this connection, this intense love that after ten years of marriage, I will always continue to love him unconditionally. I have to say, I’m glad he’s no longer suffering, because it’s hard, seeing him in pain. He’s also with his mother now. I remember him telling me when I proposed to him. I proposed to him before one of his big surgeries to get a tumor from his chest, and we had been talking about how we wanted kids, and he said he wanted to have kids as soon as possible. You see, he also had frontotemporal dementia, and even though he wasn’t having symptoms and even until his death continued to not have symptoms, he wanted to get to know his child or children, because sadly, it was inevitable that he was going to pass at a young age. When we found out that he had relapsed, it was sad, but we still kept up hope, even forgetting our anniversary. We originally had some things planned, but cancer doesn’t really have a schedule it can work around. I wish we would have had more time with him. He deserved more time. He told me closer to the day that he did everything he ever would have dreamed of, but I know that he would have liked to do more. He will be missed. In the letter he wrote me, he wanted me to sing one of our songs. I’m not much of a singer, but I wanted to fulfill his wish,” Mykah went up to the piano and put her fingers on the ivory keys, starting to play Viva la Vida.

                “I used to rule the world, seas would rise when I gave the word. Now in the morning I sleep alone, sweep the streets that I used to own. I used to roll the dice, feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes, listen to as the crowd would sing, the old king is dead long live the king. One minute I held the key, next the walls were closed on me. Then I discovered that my castles stand, on pillars of salt and pillars of sand. I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing, Roman Calvary choirs are singing. Be my mirror, my sword, and shield, my missionaries are on foreign fields. For some reason I can’t explain, once you’re gone there was never, never an honest word, but that was when I ruled the world,” Derek continued to sing the rest of the song, everyone else joining at the chorus.

                “Now, Mykah wanted to share some songs that Stiles requested she play,” Derek shuffled down off of the podium and Mykah went at the piano.

                “I’ve never so adored you. I’m twisting allegories now. I want to complicate you. Don’t let me do this to myself. I’m chasing roller coasters, I’ve got to have you closer now. Endless romantic stories, you never could control me. Well I never really thought that you’d come tonight while the crown sets heavy on either side give me one last kiss while we’re far too young to die, [far too young to die](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f71XfN_DLI). Fixation or psychosis, devoted to neurosis now. Endless romantic stories, you never could control me. Well I never really thought that you’d come tonight while the crown sets heavy on either side give me one last kiss while we’re far too young to die. Well I never really thought that you’d come tonight while the crown sets heavy on either side give me one last kiss while we’re far too young to die, far too young to die,”

                “When you fall asleep, with your head upon my shoulder. When you’re in my arms. And you’ve gone somewhere deeper. Are you going to age with grace? Are you going to age without mistakes? Are you going to age with grace? Only to wake and hide your face? When [oblivion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgXOPeobPcI) is calling out your name. You always take it further, than I ever can. When you play it hard, and I try to follow you there. It’s not about control, but I go back, when I see where you go. Are you going to age with grace? Are you going to leave a path to trace? When oblivion, is calling out your name. You always take it further, than I ever can. When oblivion, is calling out your name, you always take it further than I ever can.”

                “When the days are cold and the cards all fold and the saints we see are all made of gold. When your dreams all fail and the ones we hail are the worst of all and the blood’s run stale. I wanna hide the truth, I wanna shelter you, but with the beast inside, there’s no where we can hide. No matter what we breed, we still are made of greed, this is my kingdom come, this is my kingdom come. When you feel my heat, look into my eyes, it’s where my [demons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWRsgZuwf_8) hide, it’s where my demons hide. Don’t get too close, it’s dark inside, it’s where my demons hide, it’s where my demons hide. When the curtain’s call and the last of all, when the lights fade out, all the sinners crawl. Well they dug your grave in the masquerade when they’ll pour it out in the mess you’ve made. Don’t wanna let you down but I am hell bound. No this is all for you, don’t wanna hide the truth. No matter what they breed, we still are made of greed, this is my kingdom come, this is my kingdom come. When you feel my heat, look into my eyes, it’s where my demons hide, it’s where my demons hide. Don’t get to close, its dark inside, it’s where my demons hide, it’s where my demons hide. They say it’s what you make, I say it’s up to fate, it’s woven in my soul, I need to let you go. Your eyes they shine so bright, I wanna save that light, I can’t escape this now, unless you show me how. When you feel my heat, look into my eyes, it’s where my demons hide, it’s were my demons hide, don’t get too close, it’s dark inside, it’s where my demons hide, it’s where my demons hide.” The last chord rang out inside the church as she scooted the bench back and sat next to Derek. The pastor said some more words, they had a prayer, and then everyone started to filter through the church, hugging John, Derek, Mykah, Melissa, and Scott. Once everyone was done, they went back to Derek and Stiles’, I mean, Derek’s house. Derek still couldn’t get it straight in his head. When Derek walked in, the place was literally stacked to the ceiling with casseroles and comfort food that the pack was going to devour that night.

                “How’re you holding up pup?” Scott asked, patting her back. She shrugged. She didn’t’ really talk as much as she used to, and didn’t talk unless she needed to. Derek knew it was a coping thing. He didn’t press her to talk. No one did. “Are you going to go back to school next week?” She nodded her head. Scott shook his head and picked her up, tickling her sides and making her laugh. “I love you,” He smacked a big kiss on her cheek and she smiled, something that she hadn’t done in three days.

                “I love you too Uncle Scott,” That was one of the first things that she had said, other than singing at the funeral. She continued to be mute the rest of the time as they all got food and sat around the table.

                “A toast to Stiles, the best person everyone has ever had in their life,” Scott toasted, clinking glasses with everyone. Derek knew no one would ever forget Stiles. He was too important to forget.

                                ~~~*~~~

                It was Mykah’s first day of school back after Stiles had gone. She was only going to be there a week and a half before Christmas break, but she needed to catch up, and Derek kind of needed to force her to go. She didn’t want to go. Derek was pulling her out of the door and walking her into her classroom to make sure she would go.

                “Dad, I don’t wanna go,” She pleaded as Derek carried her into her 4th grade class.

                “I know you don’t, but daddy would want you to go,”

                “But, he’s not here!” She screamed, pissed off. The other kids turned and looked at her.

                “Please? At least today?” She shook her head. Derek put her on the ground and got down eye level with her. “You’ll be okay. If you want to go home, call or text me if your day doesn’t get better, but please, at least try,” She groaned and then nodded her head.

                “I love you princess,” He kissed her forehead and gave her a hug. “Daddy would be proud of you,” She nodded and left him, going to the other side of the room.

                That’s how Derek remembered the day earlier. Now he was sitting in one of the padded chairs of the school’s principal office next to his daughter, and five feet to their right was the music teacher, bruises on her face and a cut underneath her eye. The principal looked at Mykah and rolled his eyes.

                “Your daughter has physically injured our music teacher, she made a scene, and she said some hateful things,” Derek looked at Mykah who looked like she wanted to murder everyone, and not as mortified at her actions like she would usually be. Derek suspected something was up.

                “Your daughter just blew up and started breaking things and throwing things at me!” The music teacher exclaimed. She looked over at Mykah and gave a disgusted look.

                “You’re lying,” Derek said. He could hear her uneven heartbeat. “I know you’re lying,”

                “I am not,” Derek narrowed his eyebrows and inched closer to her. She finally broke. “Well, we had an argument,” Derek got even closer.

                “I can ask him to pull up the tape,”

                “The tape?”

                “I know for a fact that there’s a camera in the music room and the hallway next to it because my husband’s father is the sheriff of Beacon County, and after some musical instruments were stolen, they inserted cameras,” The music teacher’s face went white as a sheet as the principal clicked on a couple of files and pulled up the video. There was no sound, but you could see them having an argument, Mykah eventually crying on the ground as the music teacher dragged her out of the room. It then shot to the hallway cam that showed her dragging her towards a corner, and Mykah getting slapped across the face not one, but three times before she slashed her face and started kicking away before running down the hall. “Mykah, please explain what happened. She won’t lie to me, because she knows when I know she’s lying,” Derek pressed.

                “Well, we were supposed to present songs in music that we were supposed to have prepared. I wasn’t here when she gave the assignment, so I didn’t know there were a list of songs we were supposed to sing, so I got on piano and started to sing [Skulls by Bastille](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV0W2_hOvU4). About halfway through she slammed the cover on the piano down and yelled at me for not picking the songs on the list and I told her I wasn’t here to get the list because of family issues. I was trying to be respectful, but towards the end, it didn’t happen as much admittedly. She asked what family issues and I said the death of my father, and she yelled at me in front of the whole class about how my father had dropped me off that morning and how that didn’t add up, but I then explained our family, she threw out some stereotypical slurs, I got angry and threw all of the musical instruments down in a rage because she wasn’t listening to me, and she dragged me out, and the rest you saw. I sat in the bathroom until Mrs. Ross the office lady dragged me to the principal’s office,” Mykah finished. When she talked, she was quieter than usual. Derek wish he didn’t know why. Derek looked over at the music teacher who was looking pale.

                “I’m going to have to call the police for child abuse. You know the rules Sharon, you’re not supposed to hit or touch the kids in a provocative way,” The principal ranted, rubbing his forehead in irritation. “I’m putting you on temporary suspension until all of this is cleared up. Now as for you Mr. Hale, Mykah, I’m so sorry for your loss and I’m sorry that I had to bother you with this,” Derek looked at Mykah who slumped in the chair and leaned her head on Derek’s shoulder. She started to shutter a little bit and he quietly hushed her, holding her shoulders.

                “I told you I didn’t want to go to school today,” Derek then felt a rush of guilt going into his stomach and he wanted to vomit.

                “Well, maybe we’ll ease into it, get you caught up first,” Mykah nodded and Derek looked at the principal who also gave a nod of approval.

                “Tomorrow morning when you get to school, check in with Ms. Spencer and then go down to the guidance counselor. She was going to talk to you today, and also tomorrow, so she’s going to talk to you tomorrow morning,” Mykah nodded. Derek got up and carried Mykah out, who was emotionally drained. Derek carried her to the car and she crawled in the back seat and laid on her side, curling herself in a ball. Derek was more than sure she was going through depression. Derek was going through it himself, but he made a promise to Stiles that he wouldn’t shut down. And he hadn’t, yet. He drove home in silence and once they both got home, he saw Mykah run up to the treehouse and go onto the second part of it and camp there. Derek gave her ten minutes before crawling up there himself. He found her in the corner quietly crying to herself with a blanket draped over her whole body. Derek pulled up the blanket a little bit to reveal her freckled face that was way too much like Stiles’, her eyes glowing. That’s the reason they named her Mykah. Stiles and Derek were going to name her Lily. Not short for Lillian, just Lily, but once she came out with these amazing eyes, they named her Mykah, after the ore mica that was a similar color to her gorgeous eyes. Derek took the tear soaked strands of hair that was hanging in front of her face and pushed them behind their ear.

                “You’re so beautiful,” She pulled away and looked away.

                “I’m not,”

                “You’re gorgeous, and you know what? Your dad would be proud of what you did to that teacher today. She was a bitch. He would be proud of you,”

                “Why? I’m breaking down, I’m a disappointment,”

                “You are most certainly NOT a disappointment. And it’s okay to break down. I didn’t think it was okay for many years, but everyone has a breaking point and everyone breaks down at one point. It doesn’t define you as weak, it just defines you as human. Even werewolves have human things that weaken them. But the lack of emotion towards something you love does show weakness,” Mykah nodded and nuzzled into Derek’s side. She smelled a little bit like Stiles, a little bit like Derek, and a little bit like Scott all mixed together.

                “I love you dad,”

                “I love you more,” Mykah curled up in the corner and Derek threw another blanket over her. “Call you when dinner’s ready?” She nodded. Derek left, feeling the sting in his heart as he walked down the rope ladder. “You didn’t tell me it would be this hard,” He spoke, hoping that somewhere Stiles could hear him. He could practically hear Stiles reply “You’re still a great father,” and he smiled a little bit. God he missed him.

                                ~~~*~~~

                After dinner, he went and found Mykah on the roof, listening to some slow music. She was cuddled in Stiles’ favorite blanket and his Berkeley sweatshirt. The music was coming through the window, where she had the speaker sitting on the window sill. Derek pulled his arms around her, getting a nose full of Stiles’ scent and his heart aching, the wolf inside howling.

                “You know your dad used to do the same thing in high school,” Mykah didn’t say anything, just cuddled into his arms a little more. “Said he liked looking at the stars. Made him calm down. He used to sit on the roof of Grandpa John’s house for hours listening to music, doing his homework, or just trying to sort his life out,” He petted her hair and she left out a whimper.

                “I miss him,” She finally said.

                “I know,” He started brushing her hair with his fingers. “It’s okay to miss him,” She sighed and a small tear streamed down her small little face.

                “Do you think I’ll see him again?”

                “You’ll see him again. Werewolves live a long time, but they can’t live forever,” She seemed okay with that answer. He knows that she was exactly like Stiles, eagerly waiting to see the parent that had impacted their world the most.

                “You’ve impacted me too,” Mykah said, uncurling herself and looking up with bright eyes. Derek must have been thinking out loud. “I loved you both equally,” She kissed his face and gave him a huge hug. “I love you so much,”

                “I love you too pup,”

                “You never tell me about your childhood. Will you start telling me stories?” Derek didn’t tell the stories because it hurt. It hurt to know that his whole family was brutally murdered. It was like everything he loved in life was taken away from him, except Mykah.

                “Well, when I was about twelve, I went down to the creek with Cora. We were trying to catch some little minnows in this little fishing net and take them back home. While we were down there, I found this awesome box turtle that was skimming across the bank, and I picked him up and looked inside. His little head popped out and I fed it a leaf. I was so fascinated with this dumb turtle, just because it showed interest in me. I wasn’t a very social person, didn’t have many friends going into middle school, mainly because I was kind of exclusive, didn’t like to talk. That changed that year. I took the turtle home with me and I asked mom if I could keep him, so I kept him in a box in my room, and I would talk to him, and eventually I started talking to people instead of the turtle. I don’t even think I named it, but after a couple of months I let it go, gained the courage to join the basketball team, and started to talk to people. I guess I was a sports person. Lacrosse didn’t have as much of a following when I was in school. It kind of took off the year after I graduated, so I also joined baseball. I don’t think your dad knew this, but he went to almost all of my varsity baseball games when I was in high school. He loved baseball and no one could ever take him to see the major leagues, so he would walk over to the high school and watch us play,” Mykah was smiling now.

                “Will you take me to go play baseball sometime?”  
                “How about we hit the batting cages sometime during winter break? And guess what? I’m supposed to go tour Europe for a book tour, it’ll be three weeks long and I already gave the school a heads up, so it’s going to be you and me traveling Europe in the spring, one of the weeks is during spring break,” Mykah was smiling even brighter.

                “You’re going to have to let me read your books to get caught up,” Derek excused himself from the roof and came back with the first book of the Rocky Fork Murder Mystery series. “No, I’ve already read all of those. I ran out of stuff to read over the summer,” Well, that’s why she wasn’t asking for books over the summer. Derek tried round two and handed her _With Love Derek Hale_ and she smiled. “This one I haven’t read,”  
                “Well, better get a move on, you’re going to be reading manuscripts, or the first edition copy, the first one to come off the press, how does that sound?”  
                “I want them,” She said, cracking open the book.

                “Okay. Well, how about we head to bed so you can get started on this book and not be grouchy tomorrow morning. Just going to warn you, guidance counselors suck. I had to deal with multiple in high school when everyone died in the fire, and they don’t understand. However you approach it, I won’t be mad at you. I know how you feel, okay?”  
                “Okay,” She crawled back through the window, following Derek, and crawled inside of the sheets, Derek tucking her in. Derek kissed her neck all the way up to her forehead, something he hadn’t done since she was little before kissing her on her pink little lips. She smiled. God Derek loved her smile. Derek loved her.

                “I love you,”  
                “I love you more,”  
                “Really how much?”  
                “To the moon 300 times and back,”

                “That much eh? What if I told you affection couldn’t be measured?”

                “It still doesn’t fault nor express how much I love you,” She gave him a hug before Derek turned on her lamp (which was shaped like a stack of books) and turned out the light. Derek went back to an empty bed, pretending there was a body pressed up against his chest, still smelling Stiles in the room, even though his scent had started masking Stiles’ a couple of days ago.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Even weeks later, the mail was still full of sympathy cards. Every day when Derek would check the mail, they would just pour out. Derek was sorting through them and found one with multiple music notes on it and immediately opened it, looking inside.

                **Derek,**

**I am so sorry for your loss. Stiles was an amazing musician and an amazing father and he will be missed. I bring many condolences to you and the rest of your family. We’ve talked a couple of times, and I’ve learned you’re not much of a man for sympathy, but I just wanted to tell you that if you need anything, I am here. Your daughter is going to grow up into a fine musician. Please keep in touch.**

**Mr. Smith,**

**Beacon Hills High School Band Director**

                Derek was surprised to get a letter from Stiles’ band director from Beacon Hills. He wanted to call him, or take Mykah down there sometime, but he was going to wait a bit, wait until she had some time to cope, some time for her fragile little heart to heal. Derek took the letter and put it on the mantel above the fireplace. The rest of the cards he would throw in a shoebox, most of them unopened, and push them to the back of his closet. Derek sighed and sat back down on the couch with her laptop, typing away at the revisions for one of his novels. He scratched at his head and sighed. It had been about five weeks since the funeral and he was feeling it. Feeling it indefinitely. He missed him. Derek sighed and finished a couple more revisions before stopping and calling Scott.

                “Hey buddy, how you holding up?”                

                “I miss him,”

                “I miss him too,” Scott said. “So, what do you need?”

                “I was hoping you had a little time to talk,”  
                “You definitely caught me at the right time. I’m on break, so talk away,”

                “Well, for once, I don’t know what to do. I wanted to ask you for advice. Your mate was killed, and I wanted to know how you coped. You were lucky enough to find the same feelings for someone else, but what am I supposed to do?” There was a long pause.

                “I’m not going to lie to you Derek. It’s hard. In fact, so hard, you’re going to contemplate your life and if it’s worth living. And only time will heal the wound, but just remember, that he’s there, he’s waiting for you when you die, and be like Stiles, and look forward to seeing him, to seeing the rest of your family. You’ve been living in guilt of the death of your family and how they were dead you never realized that they are waiting with as much anticipation as you’re waiting to see Stiles again,” Derek had never really thought about it. He had just kind of accepted that his family’s death was mainly his fault, and didn’t really see the idea that he might see them again someday. Derek sighed.

                “Thanks Scott. Another question, what are you guys doing for Christmas?”

                “Kira’s family is having a special Christmas dinner in New York and I’m going there. I was hoping that maybe my mom would come with you to Christmas or if John isn’t out of his mind, maybe with him?”

                “Okay. I’ll ask John if he wants to join us in Christmas,” Derek replied, scratching his head. He glanced at the calendar where a business card was paper clipped to it. Stiles had written Daddy all over it, so he would remember his work number. Derek bit his lips as Scott talked.

                “Okay. I hope you have a good day. If you need anything, remember to just call,”

                “Okay, thanks Scott, I’ll talk to you later,”  
                “Okay, bye buddy, I love you,”

                “Scott,”  
                “I do man. I really do. I love you,”

                “I love you too,” Derek hung up and then pulled down the small business card, rubbing it between his index finger and thumb. He glanced at the number, even typed it in his phone, but didn’t have the courage to push the green button at the bottom of the screen. Derek’s finger got near it, and he pulled away. This happened for about ten minutes until his finger got a little close to the screen and it made the decision for him. He started flipping out, but he couldn’t hang up, it was the sheriff’s office, and they would call him back. Derek put the phone to his ear and heard the constant ring until it clicked and he heard the receptionist’s voice.

                “Hello, Beacon Hills County Police Station, this is Sheila,”

                “Hey Sheila, can I talk to John?”

                “Is this Derek?”

                “Yeah,”

                “Okay, I’ll put you right through,” After a couple of seconds of elevator music playing, and John’s rough voice came onto the phone.

                “Sheriff Stilinski,” He answered.

                “Hey John, its Derek,”

                “Oh, what can I do for you?”                                                  

                “I was just wondering if you wanted to join me and Mykah for Christmas. Lydia is flying out and will be staying that week and also I’m pretty sure Melissa will be joining us, thought you might want to come,”

                “I would love that. By the way, I wanted to talk to you about some things,”  
                “Some things?”

                “Well, how about I come by during my lunch shift. It starts in like ten minutes. I have some things, they would have been for, well, you know,” Derek could feel the sadness in the Sheriff’s voice. He didn’t want to say Stiles’ name. Derek barely wanted to say it. It was like every time he said his name a slideshow of memories went flooding into his brain at warp speed and Derek just wanted to cry.

                “That’d be great,”

                “Okay, well I’ll see you soon,” Derek hung up the phone and then realized that he should probably make lunch. He pulled out one of Stiles’ cookbooks (he didn’t want to touch it, but that was the only book with a good recipe for making Shepard’s pie). He opened it up to the page that smelled like various ingredients dripped on it and saw that there was a note taped over the recipe that read Derek. Derek tore it off and opened it up, reading through it.

                **Derek,**

**If you’re reading this, then that means that you’re making Shepard’s pie for my dad, and I’m gone. I just wanted to tell you that I know it’s been a while since I’ve been gone, but I still love you. I will always love you, and I’m here for you.**

                Derek read through it a couple of times before setting the note aside and starting the Shepard’s pie. When the doorbell rang, he had just finished it. He opened the door with an oven mitt still over his hand as John came in and sat at the kitchen table. Derek handed John a plate full of food and then sat down, eating at his own plate.

                “This is good food Derek, it tastes like,” John cut himself off. “Too soon,” He said, chuckling. Derek nodded his head in understanding.

                “I’m sorry, I knew you liked the recipe, and I didn’t know what to make,” Derek gave a small smile and shrugged.

                “I appreciate it,” There was a little awkwardness before finally Derek asked something.

                “You’re going to stay around, right? You’re not going to pull out from our lives?”  
                “I wouldn’t dare to. You’re still my son-in-law, Mykah’s still my granddaughter, and Stiles will always be my son. I’m not going anywhere,” Derek took that time to hug John, who hugged him with force back. They separated and John leaned down to the file he had put on the floor and put it next to his plate. “This is me and Claudia’s will. We were going to give everything to Stiles, but me and Claudia had a discussion in case something like this ever happened, and, well, we were going to give all of our belongings to Stiles’ spouse, and hopefully, depending if Stiles wanted that, his children, so,” John opened it up and pulled out a couple of papers that were stapled before handing it to Derek. He looked at the front page, seeing that there was ink smeared across the page and that the paper was creased near the staple and slightly wrinkled. He looked to see that there were multiple things crossed out and written in John’s handwriting. “I have the final copy given to my attorney, but we’re leaving all of it to you and Mykah. After that, it’s your decision what you do with it,” Derek was surprised at all of the things that were left for them, including a trust fund that half of Claudia’s life insurance went in and was redeemable to Stiles once both parents had passed. There was $500,000 in there. Derek gawked at the number, gawked at the thought that even though the Hale family was very wealthy. Actually, that was an understatement. They were extremely wealthy, but they never acted like it because Stiles and Derek both had an understanding that acting better than other people was petty. Derek was about to cry. He didn’t deserve such an amazing father-in-law. He didn’t deserve a lot of things that he had gotten.

                “Thank you so much,” Derek said, holding the paper close to him. John handed him the rest of the folder.

                “This is all yours now Derek. Thank you for taking care of my boy. Thank you for everything,” Derek smiled as John got up and slipped his jacket on, needing to head out.

                “Hey John, do you mind joining us for dinner on Sunday? Like old times?” John’s face lit up.

                “I’ll be there. And every other Sunday afterward,” Derek felt butterflies of joy as John left. Derek cleaned up the dishes and read through everything in the file again.

                “This is all yours baby,” He said, looking up. He was hoping that Stiles could hear him. “This is all going to be for you,” And Derek had plans for all of it.

                                ~~~*~~~

                It was just Mykah and Derek now. At every single game, it was just Derek sitting in the stands, with the sign that Stiles had made that read Hale 24. He knew Mykah was going into slight depression. She didn’t talk as much, didn’t hang out with friends (Derek hates to say that he wasn’t sure she had any friends at school anymore) and she spent hours in the study practicing music. Either on piano, guitar, or trumpet. She knew how to play sax now, but she refused to open the case of the instrument, that belonged to Stiles, that smelled like Stiles, that had his DNA on it. She threw all of her emotions into her music, and Derek knew that she was pretty much emotionally numb. Derek didn’t blame her. He would have been the same way. She would countlessly play this one song that Derek couldn’t recognize, a song that sounded beautiful, especially when she would hum to it. He wanted to know what it was, he pressed to know what the song was, because he and Mykah were close, but not as close as Derek would have liked. They parted a little bit when he died. She could connect with Derek perfectly fine, in fact, they had a lot in common, but she just didn’t want to talk. That’s how Derek was when his family died. Counselors and teachers who demand you to talk to them, to say how you’re feeling. Derek would never respond, because all he would feel is hurt. Guilt. He felt angry, agitated, and a mix of all other emotions he couldn’t audibly express except with silence. That’s why he wishes that Mykah wasn’t so similar to him.

                He watched as she made a goal and he clapped, standing up.

                “That’s my girl! Number 24 is my girl!” Derek yelled like Stiles usually would. She turned and smiled at him. The game ended and she went running to Derek, hugging him.

                “I love you Dad,” She clung to him and he hoisted her up on his shoulder, carrying her to the car. She sat as Derek drove her home and she stared out the window. “I’m ready,” She finally said.

                “Ready? For what?”  
                “I’m ready to talk to you,” She sighed and turned.

                “Talk?”  
                “I wanna talk to you about daddy,” She whispered. Derek nodded.

                “Okay, well, the floor is yours,” She took another deep breath and finally started talking.

                “I miss him a lot. And last night, I had an epiphany, and I saw him in my dreams. He told me that I needed to talk to you. And that even though I was sad he was gone that I would see him again, and living in silence wasn’t the way to go. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you,”  
                “It’s okay, I understand how you feel. I figured you could sort it out and if you wanted to talk to me, you would do it in time,”

                “Will you play some songs with me when we get home?”  
                “I would love to,” Derek turned onto their street and into their garage, Mykah running inside and up to the study, sliding the cover over the ivory keys. They were still in perfect condition. Mykah stabbed at the keys and Derek sang along with her ([Human by The Killers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIZdjT1472Y)).

                _I did my best to notice,_

_When the call came down the line._

_Up to the platform of surrender,_

_I was brought, but I was kind._

_And sometimes I get nervous,_

_When I see an open door._

_Close your eyes, clear your heart._

_Cut the cord._

_Are we human, or are we dancer?  
                My sign is vital, my hands are cold._

_And I’m on my knees, looking for the answer._

_Are we human, or are we dancer?_

_Pay my respects to grace and virtue,_

_Send my condolences to good._

_Give my regards to soul and romance_

_They always did the best they could._

_And so long to devotion, you taught me everything I know,_

_Wave goodbye, wish me well,_

_You’ve gotta let me go,_

_Are we human, or are we dancer?  
                My sign is vital, my hands are cold,_

_And I’m on my knees, looking for the answer._

_Are we human, or are we dancer?_

_Will your system be alright?_

_When you dream of home tonight?_

_There is no message we’re receiving_

_Let me know, is your heart still beating?  
                Are we human, or are we dancer?_

_My sign is vital, my hands are cold._

_And I’m on my knees, looking for the answer._

_Are we human, or are we dancer?_

_Are we human, or are we dancer?  
                Are we human, or are we dancer?_

There was a small tear going down Mykah’s face and Derek wiped it away with his sleeve. Her big brown eyes stared into his green ones and she hugged him.

                “I miss him,”

                “I know you do. I do too,”

                “Do you think he’ll ever walk through the door again one day?”

                “I’d like to believe so,”

                “Then I will too,” She pulled the cover over the keys and walked over to one of the shelves, the one with all of the instruments that belonged to Stiles. She pushed at one of the shelves and then took the things off of the shelf, sliding the piece of wood out to reveal another letter labeled Mykah. Derek watched as she took one of her claws and cut it open, pulling out a piece of notebook paper with pen chicken scratch scrawled all over it. She read through it and more tears started to fall down her face. Derek walked over and patted her shoulder as she handed him the piece of paper. He sat down on the dark mahogany floor as she crawled into his lap, whimpering. He read back through it and saw that it actually wasn’t a piece of notebook paper, but a piece of blank sheet music where he had written in the notes with verse below it. He looked at it and back at her before carefully picking up his pup and carrying her over to the piano. He wasn’t a great pianist, but he could at least get the gist of the chords. He put the piece of music up on the music stand and started to slowly sing the lyrics.

                “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away,” That’s when Derek started to cry. He let his face drop to the keys as a caphouny of sounds expelled the piano. He slowly rocked Mykah back and forth who was crying even harder into his shoulder. He finally lifted his head, seeing the keys wet from his tears. He brushed them off quickly and shut the piano key cover, carrying an exhausted were pup to her bed. He carefully put her underneath the comforter and sheets and she curled up.

                “Will you stay in here until I fall asleep?” She asked through a quiet sob.

                “Yes,” He turned off the main light and turned on the lamp, petting her hair as her small shutters expelled her body and her sobs turned to heavy breaths. When she finally went to sleep, Derek sat there, feeling her soft hair, and planting a kiss on her forehead. He then carefully slid himself away from her, tucked the covers under her, and turned out the light. He slowly shut the door and went back to his room, where he laid wide awake and alone, like he had for the past five or six weeks. Derek then went downstairs and turned on the TV, watching some late night television. He curled up in the living room, pulling the blanket from the back of the couch over his legs before he took one of the couch pillows and watched Jimmy Fallon tell some jokes. He tossed and turned, and still wasn’t able to get comfortable, unable to get the multiple thoughts racing through his mind to subside.

                “Stiles, if you’re there, I wanted to tell you that I love you. I love you so much. I want you to be here with me, to curl up with me when I sleep, and I don’t know if I can do this alone, I don’t know if I can do this without you Stiles, do you understand? I need you. Please tell me you’re there. Your daughter needs you, I need you, your dad needs you, and Scott needs you. We all need you Stiles, just,” Derek cut himself off as his voice cracked. “God dammit, why did you have to leave us? Why did you have to go? Why you? You didn’t deserve this! There are so many other people who would’ve been better off dead than you! Why you?” Derek screamed. He threw his head into the couch cushion and screamed again, the sound being muffled by the padding. He lifted his head and bit his lip. “Please come back to me,” He whispered. Derek was desperate for him. Mykah was desperate for him. Pretty much every single person that Stiles had left was desperate for him to come back.

                “I love you,” Derek heard. He looked at the TV and realized that it had auto shut-off. He then looked about the room. The words rang in his ears.

                “Stiles?”

                “I love you Derek. I miss you. I miss Mykah,” He heard. He then looked up to see what he thought was Stiles in the kitchen walking towards him. He rubbed his eyes and saw him blur out and into his vision. He felt someone grab his hand and guide him up the stairs, and he let it. He felt calm. He went to reach out for the being and his hand touched warm skin, the warm, pale skin of his mate, and a tear went down his face.

                “It’s actually you,” He breathed. The being didn’t falter its path as it drug Derek into his room and Derek got between the covers.

                “I’ll be back,” It said. Derek wanted to say so much, but nothing came out. He laid still as he felt a warm kiss on his cheek and he finally moved his arms around the being, cuddling close to him and finally drifting off to sleep.

                                ~~~*~~~

                When Derek awoke the next morning, he was alone. He faintly remembered seeing someone the night before, but he was pretty sure it was a dream. He went downstairs, smelling delight, pleasure, and tranquility trail up the stairs, and also seeing that the blanket that was kept on the back of the couch was thrown on the floor, where Derek had remember leaving it, well, thought he dreamt of leaving it. He picked it up and smelled it and his heart ached. Stiles. He couldn’t tell if it was a figment of his imagination or if last night had actually happened, but Derek then believed Stiles was there, watching over them. He smelled the blanket and smiled in joy.

                “Thank you,” He said, letting out a relieved sigh. With the sigh went all of the burden he had been carrying on his shoulders the past month. It was all gone.

                “You’re welcome,” He turned his head and looked around. The voice was quiet, even being a werewolf he could barely hear it. Derek suspiciously looked back around the room, and then started to fold the blanket up. As he shook it out of its wad, Stiles’ red lacrosse hoodie popped out. Derek didn’t remember that being there. That must have triggered the smell. He smelled the blanket, and it smelled like Derek, and the house. He folded the blanket back and took the sweatshirt upstairs to where Mykah was, and laid it across her. He watched her small hand grab it and snuggle it towards her face.

                “Daddy,” She spoke softly, whimpering. She hugged the jacket for dear life and curled back into a ball. Derek then slowly shut the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know. I'm an awful person. Express it as much as you must, but I'm not as awful of a person to leave the story like that. Please remember THERE IS STILL ANOTHER CHAPTER! And also, if I get enough response, I will gladly make an alternate ending if you just can't bare to see your little baby stay dead. I already have ideas for it, just need the okay to launch it.  
> Thank you all for reading! You guys are amazing! And the response of this just warms my heart :) If you have any song request for the last chapter, I'm taking them now (I already have one, and I love this song so much! Thanks to [BananaWombat](http://archiveofourown.org/users/BananaWombat/pseuds/BananaWombat) for the suggestion, literally haven't stopped listening to it or humming it). I've been colaborating with a couple of the songs on saxophone if anyone also wants me to cover them and link them to the story. Just say the word and I'll have the videos up as soon as possible. And FYI, I am about 1/5 done with the last chapter.  
> On another note, marching season is over, which means I have more time to actually write! Ya! It kind of sucks there's only one chapter left (not counting the possible alternate ending). I am avidly working/starting/sparking up ideas for a couple of other pieces I'm thinking of posting once I get the word count up. As always, I take suggestions on my Tumblr, and if you want a sneak peek of the last chapter, just say the word and it'll also be on Tumblr.   
> Thanks again for reading guys! Kudos and comments always accepted :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys! Last Chapter! I got it up pretty fast, and I'm even surprised about this. I have to say I'm pretty proud of this chapter and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did writing. It's been a long road, and I just want to say thanks for sticking through the story and with me! Without you guys I don't know what I would do with my life.

**Mykah:**

**Six years later:** Mykah tapped at a pencil on her desk, zoning the teacher out. She looked out the window, seeing a bird fly in circles around the school lawn before diving to the ground to pick up some food a kid probably left during lunch period. She saw brown leaves dance across the lawn, and she imagined a simpler time. She then felt her desk thud as her teacher smacked the tabletop. She looked up to see the undesirable face of her Seminar teacher, wearing a least than satisfied expression.

                “Maya, would you like to answer my question?” Mykah irritably rolled her eyes and pushed the teacher’s hand from her desk.

                “It depends, what was the question?”

                “Are you paying attention?” The class started to stutter in laughter. Mykah glowered at them and they stopped.

                “No, I wasn’t paying attention,” She admitted, repositioning her feet which sat on the desk. The teacher threw her legs off of the desk.

                “Well, I suggest you do Maya, this is an important class. And I don’t appreciate you wasting my time,” Mykah scoffed and rolled her eyes.

                “No it’s not. It’s just seminar, or mandatory study hall is what I like to call it. I don’t even want to be here. Same with half the kids here. Do you know what I could be doing instead of staying in this class? I could be taking a class that actually matters, like AP chemistry, but this is taking up a block in my schedule, so congratulations for wasting MY time,” She stared back at the window but the teacher pressed on with her.

                “Maya, don’t be fickle,”  
                “My name is not Maya,” Mykah whispered loudly as she turned around. The teacher turned on her heel again and stared Mykah in the face.

                “Excuse me?”

                “MY NAME IS NOT MAYA,” Mykah said loudly, articulating the syllables. The teacher gawked at her. “What? Did I stutter? I said my name isn’t Maya, it’s Mykah. You know like the ore? You’re a freaking science teacher, aren’t you? Do you now know how to pronounce it? It’s literally October and you’ve been pronouncing it wrong the entire time. How do you expect me to respect you if you can’t even say my name correctly?” The teacher didn’t say anything. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Mykah rolled her eyes and picked up her backpack.

                “Where are you going?”

                “Oh, well I thought you were done with your dumb little counseling lesson. If I wanted counseling I would go to someone who actually has a degree, not an underpaid freshman science teacher, so I’m going to go practice my music for district auditions, which is an actual homework assignment,” Mykah left the classroom and walked down the hall to the fine arts building, sighing. She hated Seminar. Seminar was required for all sophomores. It was supposed to be used as a study hall and they were supposed to give life advice when going to college. Like she wanted advice from that bitch. Mykah exited the door to the school and went outside, where it was dark and raining. She sighed as she slid her keycard into the Fine Arts door security slider and walked in. Thank god for her band director who had said he lost his key and gave her the spare one, because she wouldn’t be able to survive most days without it. The call button for the music office was broken, so she couldn’t just call into the receptionist (who just adored her and always gave her cookies). She went into the main office and greeted Mrs. Jennings, who handed her a blondie and she thanked her, grabbing a key for one of the practice rooms. You weren’t supposed to eat in there, but it’s not like Mrs. Jennings was going to tell, and she always cleaned up. She threw here stuff in there and went into the band room to grab her saxophone. It was actually her dad’s before he passed. She was thankful that there wasn’t a class going on this hour because she could get it without feeling fifty pairs of eyes on her as she carefully came in and left. She went back to the practice room, shut the door and put the saxophone to the side. She got it out to play later. She turned on the electric piano in there and sprung up a couple of chords and then started up a song. It was a song she had been playing since she was ten. A song that she had been playing since her father died. She never told Derek what song it was, could always sense his curiosity, but she wanted to keep some things to herself, and he knew that he could accept a little secrecy.

                “Hey girl, open your walls, play with your dolls. We’ll be a perfect family. When you walk away, that’s when we really play, you never hear me when I say, “Mom, please wake up, Dad’s with a slut, your son is smoking cannabis,” No one ever listens, this wallpaper glistens, hope they don’t see what goes down in the kitchen. Places places, get in your places, throw on your dress and put on your doll faces. Everyone thinks that we’re perfect, please don’t let them look through the curtains. Picture picture, smile for the picture, pose with your brother won’t you be a good sister? Everyone thinks that we’re perfect, please don’t let them look through the curtains. D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E I see things that nobody else sees. D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E I see things that nobody else sees,” Mykah turned her head slightly to see the choir director outside of the door. She froze, but he opened the door with a big smile.

                “Wow, you’re a beautiful singer, and I know you’re not in choir,” He fathomed, taking a seat next to her. “Where did you learn to sing like that?” Mykah shrugged, being a bit shy.

                 “I used to sing with my dad a lot,” She shrank down in her seat.

                “That was wonderful. Are you thinking about joining choir at all?” She shook her head. “Darn, what a shame. Well, will you at least do me a favor?”

                “It depends what the favor is,”  
                “How about Thursday morning you come see me in my office. I have a project I’m working on that I want you to be a part of. I was going to audition some of my a Capella girls to do it, but no need anymore. You have the voice I want,” Mykah blushed.

                “Um, thanks Mr. Meyer,”

                “I want to do it earlier, but I know you’re a part of marching band,” Mykah questioned in her head how the hell he knew that. “I see you every morning coming from the football field, you always walk past me when I’m trying to park,” He gave another warm smile and Mykah smiled back.

                “Well, thank you, I’ll see you Thursday then?”

                “Definitely, well I have to be heading to teach my class, and Mykah?”  
                “Yes sir?”

                “Please don’t stop singing,” She blushed again as he slipped out of the door of the practice room.

                “That was weird,” She expressed out loud, shutting the piano off.  She then pulled out her alto and started to play the district music she had packed away in her backpack to practice fingering during her spare time.

                                ~~~*~~~

                It was days like this that Mykah wished that Derek would have bought the Camaro. It was pouring down rain and the bus never dropped her off at her house, instead, about five streets away. She sighed as it stopped and got out, the rain immediately soaking through her sweatshirt. She started to walk home, pulling out her cellphone and checking to see if she had any notifications. Just a Snapchat from one of her friends, who was labeled “Main Bitch”. His name was Henry, and it was joke, because he was gay, and in his Snapchat, Mykah was labeled “Side Bitch”.  She replied with a less than pleasant face and continued to walk home. She started running to avoid the pounding rain on her, every time she brought up her foot feeling dust stick to the backs of her legs. Oh how she hated that. She finally got inside and started toeing out of her soaked shoes, turning them over to dump a fairly large puddle of water on the garage floor. She sighed and started taking her stuff out of her soaked backpack, the papers slightly soggy but not goners. She put them to lay out in the garage for a couple of hours and turned on the space heater before going into the living room, where she found her dad, cross legged on the couch, his laptop sitting on his knees as he was typing up another story. She plopped next to him, his glasses misaligned when she bumped him. He shut the lid of the laptop, pushed his glasses up and kissed her on the cheek.

                “How was school pup?”

                “It was good?”

                “That was rhetorical, I got a call from the school, something about having a falling out with a teacher?”

                “Ask her to learn my fucking name and we’ll pick up on this conversation,” Mykah replied as she got up and went to the fridge. She grabbed a Snapple bottle and sat back down.

                “Dooley noted,” Her dad said, shutting down his laptop. She opened the bottle, hearing the satisfying pop of the cap and turning it over to read the fact.

                “Did you know that the name for the end of your shoelace is called an aglet?”

                “I did know that actually,”  
                “Me too. That was a boring one,” She disregarded the cap as she chugged at the bottle, finishing the pink liquid and putting the empty bottle on the coffee table.

                “So, we’re going up to Uncle Scott’s later tonight for dinner. He was feeling lonely because Kira is out of town, something with her parents in Japan or something,” he shrugged his shoulders and packed up his writing stuff.

                “Alright, is that it?”

                “If you have any homework, do it now I guess?”

                “I can’t, it’s wet,” Mykah watched as her dad glanced out the window, a flash of lightning lighting up the outside.

                “Well, then I guess we’re pulling another all-nighter?”

                “Looks like it,”

                “Get Red Bull before we go home?”

                “Get Red Bull before we go home,” Her dad nodded and went into the other room, putting his laptop away. He emerged wearing a pair of tight jeans and a Henley t-shirt with thumbholes, from basketball shorts and a sweatshirt. He may be almost 39, but even Mykah had to give it to him that he kept himself together well. It helped that he was a werewolf.

                By the way, am I going to have a car to drive on my birthday? We both know I’m not driving the Jeep,” It’s not that she had a problem driving the Jeep, it is that it was way too personal, and that’s one thing she couldn’t drive, it was the one thing that still smelled like him.

                “Yeah, I’m sorry, we’ll figure it out as soon as you,” He poked her in the face. “Get your license,”

                “Okay, fair point, fair point,” She shrugged and headed towards the car. She thought in the back of her mind why her dad didn’t replace the Camaro. I guess he had too much on his mind is what she settled with. They all did at that time. She sighed and sat in the front seat, buckling the seatbelt as Derek pulled out of the driveway.

                Mykah was a pretty simple girl. She had long hair, her daddy’s eyes, and her dad’s skin tone and face. She loved music and art, had a nearly unhealthy obsession with Bastille, and living up to the expectation of her daddy. She enjoyed the little things, such as a nice breeze on a summer day, smelling the ocean at the beach, or the glass of nice red wine that she had every night at dinner. She also had an obsession with tattoos. She wanted them, many of them. She was constantly taking a sharpie marker and doodling on her arms during class, and she decided that tonight she was going to ask Uncle Scott if he and her dad would finally tattoo her. She had decided what she wanted long ago, long when the days were hard, the nights unbearable, and when she used to not talk. She still doesn’t talk as much as she used to before everything, but she’s becoming a bit more social. She still has her secrets, the secrets that she won’t tell anyone, and won’t even admit to herself, but who doesn’t?

                “Dad, can we ask Uncle Scott to help you tattoo me tonight?” Derek glanced over at her, not turning his head from the direction of the road.

                “I mean we can, but are you sure you want to do that tonight?” She nodded, looking out the window.

                “I’m pretty set. I have been for a while now,” She nodded her head as she watched the trees drift by the window as Derek drove down the highway towards Beacon Hills. She always felt weird when they entered the town. She didn’t know why, it was just one of those feeling where she felt less human than normal, and she didn’t like it. She figured that’s why they moved away. She knew there were obviously other reasons, but she could feel the pull back to Beacon Hills, and it wasn’t something she was fond of, and she didn’t think any of the other werewolves were fond of either. She also understood you couldn’t be too far from it, or else it would bring you back to the depths of hell in the preserve. She understood that. That’s why they only lived a town away. Close enough yet far enough away. She pulled the sleeves of her sweatshirt over her fingers, the sleeves still soggy and wet from the pouring rain an hour ago. Why did things take so long to dry? She saw a loose thread and broke it off with her teeth. She looked outside and saw that they were almost to Scott’s house. She sighed as Derek exited the highway and started into town. They passed the Sheriff’s station, and Mykah felt her stomach turn from all of the awful things that happened there. She turned her head again and looked to see that they were turning onto Scott’s street and parking in their driveway. Once they got there, they watched Scott open the door and Mykah went running towards him, giving him a hug. She was about as tall as him now, but he still lifted her over his shoulder and spun her in a circle before putting her on the ground.

                “How’s my pup?”

                “Good,”  
                “Well, are you guys ready to eat?” Mykah shook her head and practically sprinted for the kitchen, seeing that he had made sour cream mashed potatoes like Stiles used to make. She was pretty sure it was a McCall recipe. She sat down as he passed around plates and they ate semi-quietly. When Mykah was close to finished, she set her fork down and filled the silence (God, the cliché Bastille quote she used amused and shamed her).

                “So, Uncle Scott, I found what I want as my tattoo, well, actually, tattoos,” She started. He put his fork down and took a drink from his Coors bottle, the blue in the mountains fading as it warmed.

                “I’m listening,”

                “Well, will you do them? Well, you and dad of course, because, you know, but…?”  
                “Yeah, sure, let’s do it now,” Scott put his bottle down and reached under the kitchen sink, pulling out what looked like a fondue torch. Mykah watched as he lit it and she cringed a bit.

                “What is that?”

                “How else do you think werewolves get tattoos?”  
                “I was hoping with a special chemical or something….? I don’t know! I’m only fifteen!”

                “Oh honey, are you sure you still want them?” Mykah gulped and nodded her head. Scott shrugged and grabbed a kitchen chair that he dragged outside. He then sat her in the chair and handed the torch off to her dad. “What do you want?” Mykah fished in her pocket and came up with a couple of soggy papers that she had in her pocket. One of them was Aunt Lydia’s tree, another was Stiles’ strength symbol with Scott’s two black bands going around the rest of her arm, another was Derek’s triskelle, and the last one was the words “you are what you love, not who loves you” with a treble staff written at the end of it.

                “I picked these because the tree is my thing, because I branch from different types of people, I don’t think I have to explain the bands, Celtic symbol, or triskelle, and the last one includes the last words that my daddy ever said to me,” She had thought about the words hard. They were etched into her brain, and she kept replaying the way he looked into her eyes, kissed her on the forehead, and gave her one last hug. She blinked away a tear and looked back at Scott.

                “Where?” She pointed to where she wanted each and Scott nodded. She took off her sweatshirt to reveal a racer back tank top that draped over her. She turned backwards in the chair and Scott held her hands tight, keeping her still as she felt the hot pain on her back, feeling the triskelle being etched into her skin. She cried, she clawed at Scott, and howled a couple of times, and then it was over. She was breathing heavily as she turned back over and Scott held her arm stable as she turned her head and Derek made the two bands with the strength symbol on the outside. That one was a bit more bearable. The tree she got tattooed on the back of her leg, which hurt the worst, but she dealt with the pain, just gritted her teeth and waited for the last one. This one hurt the most of all. It was Stiles’ last words and she wanted them to go up the inside of her arm. She cried, not because of the physical pain, but the emotional pain. The day replayed in her mind as the flame burned into her skin, and she felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt and loss. When her dad pulled the flame away, she held her arm and looked down. In perfect calligraphy, there were his words, along with the treble clef. She looked at the top of her arm and saw the bands, the exact same place that Scott had his, and she turned her head and looked in the patio door to see the triskelle on her back. She had already looked at the tree once Derek had finished it.

                “Open wound,” She whispered, feeling her arm. Open wound.

                                ~~~*~~~

                She woke up the next morning exhausted and overwhelmed from staying up doing homework. She was startled to see that she had something on her arm when she looked in the mirror, but then remembered. She traced the tattoo on her skin and sighed. She rubbed her eyes and went back in her room. The poster with her dad’s face on it that read The Stiles Campaign hung on the back of her door. Her dad and she were avid followers (and leaders) in the program. She kissed his face like she usually did and went on her normal routine. She wore another tank top that hung loosely on her frame and a pair of leggings (which she usually didn’t wear). She got her backpack ready, threw her hair in a ponytail, put on a little makeup, and then headed to school. She would usually run to school to clear her head, and during marching season she didn’t have time to run in the morning before school, so she ran to school. It was something she inherited from her dad. She got to school and threw her things down in the band room, fiddling with the combination of her locker and pulling out her alto. She wetted a reed in her mouth as she put on deodorant (which she had accidentally left in her locker from the day before) and adjusted her neck strap. She still had her trumpet at home, but she didn’t play it as much, except occasionally in jazz when the other band director asked for her to solo and it was more fitting for a trumpet, which was more often than not. She got all of her marching stuff, threw on a pair of tennis shoes, and pulled her ponytail tighter before putting in a headband that she kept in her case (she had forgotten one this morning because she wasn’t planning on keeping her hair up). She greeted Mr. Steiner (who she called Dan) and Mr. Stark. She loved both of them, and she just loved being in the arts program so much. She marched down to the field and conversed with some friends before they started practice.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Practice was long that day. Extremely long. Mykah couldn’t’ve prayed harder for Algebra 2 to start, where she conversed with Henry and one of the color guard girls, Rayna. They mostly talked about music. Some marching band, some concerts, but mostly their favorite music groups.

                “Nice tattoos,” Henry commented, pointing.

                “Thanks,”  
                “I see you have a Fall Out Boy quote there,” He pointed inside her arm. She chuckled a little bit.

                “Yeah, those were actually the last words my dad told me,” He didn’t say anything for a while.

                “That’s still adorable,” Mykah smiled. She loved Henry. He came from a lesbian household, had a lesbian sister, and he was gay. It all just worked. Mykah was the opposite in some ways. Yeah, she did come from a homosexual household, but she also came from a one parent household as of six years ago. She was also straight, well, as far as she knew. She knew things could always change, but she was pretty sure she was heterosexual. She didn’t really have a love life, so it was hard to determine. She never really felt love towards other people, but didn’t really not feel love towards other people. It was complicated. Long story short, she hated people, and loved people at the same time, and she wasn’t very good at communication with other human beings. It was probably the wolf inside of her. That’s what she settled with, not accepting the answer that she was just the only human (kind of) that couldn’t connect with humans. “Did you get them last night?” Mykah stopped her train of thought and looked back at Henry, who pulled his shaggy hair out from in front of his glasses.

                “Yeah. I’ve been planning to get them for a while, and last night just, I don’t know, felt right,”

                “That’s what I want to, but my parents say not until I’m 18,” Mykah wasn’t surprised. Henry was only a freshman, a whole grade lower than her, and he didn’t need to be worrying about tattoos yet. He needed to worry about finding his own strategy of surviving high school. That seemed to have a little more importance. Well, in her opinion anyway. She sighed and got out her notebook and started writing down notes from the board where the teacher was writing them. Mykah genuinely liked her Algebra 2 teacher. He was funny, usually interesting, and never fucked around, just got straight to the point. And his class always flew by, and was always filled with notes, and not discussion, or games (god, what are we, in kindergarten? Yeah, didn’t think so). The only thing she liked better than direct notes were lecture notes. She always retained those better.

                The class passed in little notes, little homework, and a lot of snapchatting. Mostly about ravioli. Why? Not even Mykah knows. When the class was over, she trudged to her next class, stomach rumbling for lunch. She watched as Henry headed to lunch and she headed upstairs. To another study hall. She had already finished her language credit early. She found her usual seat, put in headphones, and sunk into her chair, waiting for everyone to come, the teacher to acknowledge her presence before she was (guess where?) at the music building again. She wasn’t going to head to a practice room today, well, not yet at least. She first stopped by Steiner’s office, which always smelled of vanilla sunshine as Mykah liked to put it. Nowhere else in the school smelled so pleasant. She watched him type away at his computer.

                “Good morning Mykah,” He greeted as she sat in one of the comfier chairs of his office. She took a deep breath and then got back up.

                “Good morning to you too. You already know why I’m in here,” It sure wasn’t to smell his office or anything. He chuckled.

                “I know. Hey, did Mr. Meyer get in touch with you recently,”  
                “Yesterday,”

                “He told me to give this to you,” He handed her a piece of paper, which she folded and put in her pocket to look at later.

                “Alright, see you around,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Mykah walked home from where the bus dropped her off and saw a Porsche parked in the driveway. She jumped with excitement and ran in to see Aunt Lydia and Uncle Jackson home.

                “Aunt Lydia!” She practically yelled. She watched Aunt Lydia jump up and go to hug her. As soon as Lydia touched her, it’s like she froze in time. Mykah just watched, her hand extended to her shoulder. She inhaled a deep breath and screamed. Mykah was brought to her knees, covering her ears. She had heard of Aunt Lydia doing that, it was a banshee thing, but she never actually witnessed it. Aunt Lydia stayed in the same spot and Uncle Jackson came over and put a hand on her shoulder.

                “Lyds, are you okay?” She gave a slow nod and moved.

                “Was it something I did?” Mykah had to ask. She shook her head.

                “I, I talked to him,” She said. Mykah furrowed her brow and got off of the floor.

                “To who?”

                “Your dad,” Mykah immediately shut her mouth and looked into her eyes, a small tear falling down her face.

                “My, my, you, daddy?” Mykah stuttered over the words and just hugged her and didn’t stop. Mykah saw out of the corner of her eye her dad staring in amazement. Aunt Lydia made her way over to the couch, being followed by Mykah and her dad.

                “He has some things he wants to tell the two of you,” She said, flicking her fingers off of her thumb. “First, he misses you both. Second, he’s with his mom now and he’s okay. Okay, he told me to tell Mykah that he’s so proud of you and that you’ve blossomed into a beautiful young girl. Derek, he told me that he knew you never stopped loving him and he loves you too, and that he came to visit you about a month after he passed. That was him,” Lydia gave a small smile. Mykah looked over to her dad who was flabbergasted. He looked like he was trying to say something, but couldn’t. Mykah didn’t know the night her aunt was speaking of.

                “Dad, what night was that?”  
                “Remember the morning that you woke up with his sweatshirt in your arm, and you went downstairs and I set a plate for him with strawberry pancakes and everything?” She then knew exactly what he was talking about.

                “Yeah, I remember that exactly actually,” She recalled the day. She remembered that she never stopped sleeping with that sweatshirt, would sometimes wear it on especially cold nights. Mykah then started to cry. She didn’t even know why, but she always did this when she would find another note to her from him stuffed in a book, or in some sheet music, and even one time between the piano strings when they got it tuned. “He came?”

                “He said he only came because you both needed to get your heads out of your asses,” Aunt Lydia looked at her nails and then folded her hands back down in her lap. “Well, I’m not trying to rush off, but I just wanted to stop by and give you that,” Aunt Lydia replied, talking to her dad. Aunt Lydia and Uncle Jackson both gave Mykah hugs and kisses before leaving. Once they left, Mykah looked at the paper that was in her dad’s hand that she hadn’t noticed. She quickly grabbed it and looked through it. It had the Stiles Campaign logo on the top and she gave it back to him. Probably some more corporate stuff. Her aunt had practically taken over the program at this point, so she was corporate.

                “Dinner will be on in about an hour and a half, alright?” Mykah nodded and scampered up to the study, holding the piece of paper that Steiner had given her earlier. She unfolded it once finding her comfy chair and looking at it. She sighed and got the tripod and camera from inside one of the closets and set it up. She did the cliché “centering the camera before sitting down” thing and sat down. She cleared her throat.

                “Um, hey, I’m Mykah. So, if you’re watching this, it’s because Mr. Meyer asked me to make this video documentary on how music has affected my life. So, um, instruments I play include trumpet, alto sax, Bari sax, piano, guitar, and I can sing a little too. Music runs in my family. Well, my parents are quite different from most. I had two fathers, two, wonderful and loving fathers,” Mykah quickly grabbed a framed picture of them from when they had just gotten married, the one that Aunt Lydia had taken with them smiling in a patch of wildflowers in the preserve in Beacon Hills. “And my daddy, Stiles,” She pointed at his face in the picture. “He passed after a semi lengthy on and off battle with cancer. He was one of the people who inspired me to do music. He taught me all of the instruments I learned today, and he always encouraged me to be the best person I could be and to always express myself, and the only way that ever mattered to me was through music,” She smiled, remembering the first chords that he taught her on the piano. It was just four simple chords, but the chords defined her fathers’ lives, and even hers. Just four chords created a song that most wouldn’t know about. “Um, so to say that music has affected my life a lot would be an understatement. It’s shaped who I am today,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                She turned the video camera back on and she was in her room.

                “So, um, I guess I’ll show you what I can do,” She smiled and sat at the keyboard that once belonged to her dad. She turned it on and started playing Hall of Fame by The Script.

                “Yeah, you can be the greatest, you can be the best, you can be the King Kong banging on your chest. You can beat the world, you can beat the war, you can talk to God go banging on his door. You can throw your hands up, you can beat the clock, you can move mountains, you can break rocks. Don’t be a master, don’t wait for luck, dedicate yourself and you’ll find yourself standing in the hall of fame. And the world’s gonna know your name. You’ll be written in the prophecy. And the world’s gonna know your name. And you’ll be on the walls of the hall of fame. You can go the distance, you can run the mile. You can walk the streets of hell with a smile. You can be the hero, you can get the gold, breaking all the records they thought never could be broke, yeah do it for your people, do it for your pride. You’ll never really know if you never really tried. Do it for your country, do it for your name, ‘cause there will be a day when you’re standing in the hall of fame. And the world’s gonna know your name. You’ll be written in the prophecy. And the worlds’ gonna know your name. And you’ll be on the walls of the hall of fame. Be a champion. Be a champion. Be a champion. On the walls of the hall of fame,” Mykah stopped the song early and wiped her face.

                She looked back at the camera and grabbed some sheet music from under her bed.

                “I have all of these songs memorized. I kept the music because it still has his handwriting on it. That might sound kind of cheesy, but every bit counts. After he passed, I didn’t know if I wanted to keep doing music, but I found a couple of notes he left for me to find saying that he wanted me to keep doing it, because it would always be our thing. So after that I never stopped. I remember before he got me my trumpet, I wanted to play a musical instrument so bad it hurt. And now, I am, and I’ve never been happier than how I am in music. It’s something no one can take away from me, because people can tell me I’m not very good at playing, I don’t really care, but I can still hum the tune to myself. To acquire a sound to bring a person on their knees in resurrection, it takes amazing skill, and I want to get to that point one day. One day, maybe I will,” Mykah cut it again and tucked it under the skirt of her bed before sighing, brushing the rest of the dust off of the keyboard, and shutting it off.

                                ~~~*~~~

                Mykah was in the car with her dad when they were going to the store. She wanted to put in an application for Barnes and Noble, and it just so happened it was connected to Target in the mall. She started humming Dollhouse and her dad broke her concentration.

                “You’ve been humming and playing that tune for six years. I’ve accepted that we both have our secrecy, but seriously, what is that song?”

                “It’s Dollhouse by Melanie Martinez,”

                “Well, how does it go?”

                “Places places, get in your places, throw on your dress and put on your doll faces. Everyone thinks that we’re perfect, please don’t let them look through the curtains. Picture picture, smile for the picture, pose with your brother won’t you be a good sister? Everyone thinks that we’re perfect, please don’t let them look through the curtains. D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E I see things that nobody else sees. D-O-L-L-H-O-U-S-E I see things that nobody else sees,” She sang. She watched as her dad stayed silent for several seconds.

                “Your voice is so beautiful. You never sing much anymore. I miss it,” It was now Mykah’s turn to fall silent.

                “It’s something I gave up,” She said, with the implied _after the funeral._ She let out a loud sigh.

                “I know you miss him,” She nodded microscopically and leaned her lead on the cool window.     “Yeah, I miss him a lot. Some days I’m okay and some days it just hits me and I don’t want to live anymore. It’s hard,” She bit her lip and gave another small sigh. She sighed more these days. It took place of all of the unsaid things.

                “Better to not leave things unsaid,” Her dad responded, pulling into the Target parking lot. She walked in with him, standing only a couple inches shorter than him.

                “I’m going to go submit my application. Meet you back here?” Her dad nodded, grabbing a cart and venturing off to the other side of the store. She walked through the mall and headed to Barnes and Noble. She went up to the front desk, where she saw someone rummaging underneath the desk. “Um, excuse me,” She said, a little loud. She heard a thump, an “oh shit”, and then a head pop up from the desk. She recognized the kid. He had brown hair that swept slightly over his eyes, a button up plaid shirt, and khaki pants. His eyes were a blazing blue. The kid’s name was Jake. He was a grade above her. “Oh, I’m sorry, I just came to submit this application,” She handed a piece of paper to him and he looked over it.

                “Mykah, I knew I recognized you from somewhere. You were in my band last year, yeah?”

                “Uh yeah, but I moved up to Wind Ensemble,”

                “I haven’t gotten that far yet,” He shrugged. She tried not to stare at him but he smelt of pure adoration. She glanced at him to see he was still staring. She raised one of her eyebrows, the way her dad would do when he suspected she was lying. “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m staring,” He quickly averted his eyes.

                “I mean, its okay, a lot of people stare at me. I usually hear the words ‘freak’ or ‘nerd’ or ‘What the hell is wrong with her?’ come out of people’s mouth, so,”

                “That’s not why I was staring,”

                “Then why were you staring?”

                “Because you’re beautiful,” He looked at her with a shy smile. “Oh shit, I screwed this up, didn’t I?”

                “No,” Mykah reassured him, pulling him by the sleeve to look at her. “You’re not messing this up. You’re actually kind of cute,” She picked up a nice pen from the display behind her and paid for it. She pulled out her credit card, and when he asked her to sign the receipt, she put her phone number on the back of it. She watched as he slowly stuffed it into his pocket and winked at her.

                “You know I could’ve just looked here,” He pointed to her application. She thumped her forehead with the heel of her hand. She shook her head and slowly walked out. “I’ll text you later, yeah?”

                “Yeah,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Mykah sat in Seminar. Again. But now, the teacher wouldn’t let her leave. Or do anything. Mykah didn’t have any homework to do, because all of her classes were in between units and there was nothing to do, so she wasn’t allowed to get online, read a book, or even scribble on a piece of paper. She wasn’t even allowed to read through her solo music. She wasn’t allowed anything until the teacher did a grade check on her.

                “Since when did you get these ugly tattoos?” The teacher commented as she walked by.

                “They’re not ugly,”

                “Why would you ruin your skin like that?”

                “They mean something,” She said.

                “Why would a sixteen year old need tattoos?” She grabbed Mykah’s arm and read down the side of it. “You are what you love, not who loves you? Why would you get that on your skin?”

                “They were the last words that my father said to me, before he passed,” The seminar teacher went silent, before releasing her arm.

                “I’m, I’m,”

                “Save it. I’m not your charity case. That’s why you treat people with respect in general, because you don’t know what they’ve been through or other opinions. It’s what I like to call having a one track mind,” Mykah shrugged. “Since you’re suddenly so invested in my life, you would probably want to know that my parents were gay also. And that all of my other relatives on the Hale side died in a horrific fire except for my father, his youngest sister, and my uncle,” The seminar teacher continued to stay silent. “Not everything is how it seems, so your you to come in here and judge me and then try to teach a lesson about how accepting others is the best thing a person to do is incredibly hypocritical, and if you think I want to take life advice from such a one-sided person, you’re mistaken. Now may I please get out my music?” the seminar teacher nodded like she was afraid to say or do the wrong thing. Mykah got the music out and hummed to the sound. She sighed. She could feel the day approaching. The day he died. It made her sad. More like devastated.

                                ~~~*~~~

                About three weeks since the “smooth” encounter at Barnes and Noble, Mykah and Jake had been talking. A lot. He had finally asked her on her first date, and offered to pick her up. Mykah was dressed in her nicest sweater and a pair of printed leggings. She had her hair waterfall braided around her head and a small black bow held it in place in the back. She heard the doorbell ring and she jumped down the stairs, all of them, landing gracefully on her toes at the bottom, barely making a noise. She opened the door to see her handsome fella in a button up sea foam green shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. She smiled and invited him in.

                “My dad wanted to take a picture, and also give you the boyfriend lecture. I’m sorry about this,” She apologized, grabbing his hand and leading him into the living room. He sat down and she watched as he looked around at the photos on the wall. Most of them were of Mykah and Derek. They took a lot of the other ones down and put them in other rooms.

                “So, it’s just you and your dad in this great big house?”

                “Well, it used to be me and my parents, but, you know,” She shrugged her shoulders. “Now it’s just me and my dad,” She watched as Jake got up and ran his fingers over all of the pictures. He walked down the hall, where they hung the last family picture they had taken with Stiles.

                “Who’s that?” He asked, pointing.

                “That’s my daddy,” She said looking at the picture of Stiles, his smile shining bright. He nodded, looking at the picture.

                “So, you’re, other dad, he, uhm,”

                “He passed away,” Mykah said, looking at her feet. “It was six years ago, or will be on December 8th,” The room went silent for a while until Mykah heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She looked up and saw her dad, slowly coming down. She watched as Jake straightened his back and extended his hand for Derek to shake when he came down the stairs.

                “Are you Jake?” He asked. Jake nodded. “I’ve heard a lot about you, all good things,” Mykah saw that he was trying to look intimidating, and it was working.

                “Thank you sir,”

                “Do you love her?”

                “I would say I do sir,”

                “Son, you don’t have to call me sir. You can call me Derek,”

                “Okay,”

                “You seem like a nice gentleman,” He accepted his hand and finally shook it. Mykah saw Jake’s face stiffen as she could sense her dad giving him a death grip. “Where are you taking her tonight?”

                “I was going to take her to one of the parks to have a picnic,”

                “Where?”  
                “I was planning on going to Beacon Hills sir,” Mykah cringed at the words. Derek looked at Mykah. He gave the face of “are you sure you’re okay with this,” and she gave a responding face of “I’ll figure it out”.

                “Well, as long as you come back safe and sound,” Her dad said seriously. Mykah felt her phone vibrate and looked at the message.

                **Make sure no one is supernatural or hunter bait. Understand?**

**Okay, will do dad, it’s just a date**

Mykah slipped her phone back in her pocket.

                “Shall we?” Jake offered his arm and Mykah hooked hers with his. She walked out the door and into his Mustang. His parents were the lead surgeons at the regional hospital.

                “Why did you choose Beacon Hills?”

                “I mean, I don’t know, it’s romantic,”

                “Beacon Hills, romantic?”  
                “I know, it doesn’t sound like it, but I have a nice evening planned,” Mykah hated that town. When they would drive by the preserve, she could still smell the burning flesh of her family, and she hadn’t even been there. It was a memory that would always be burned into the land. Like a tattoo. She looked out the window as he drove, the urge to bolt out of the car as they approached Beacon Hills worsening. As she suspected, Jake pulled into the preserve, popping the trunk and getting a blanket. He put the top down on the car and laid the blanket across the top and back seat. He then laid across it, Mykah joining him, cradled in his arms as they looked at the stars.

                “So you know my story, kind of, what’s yours?”  
                “What do you mean?  
                “What do you like? Who are you to the world? How do you contribute to society?” There was a pause before he responded.

                “There’s not much to say I guess. I mean, I come from a two parent home, have a pretty good job, and a beautiful gal with me,” He winked as he said that and Mykah blushed. “But, um, actually, I’m in remission from cancer. I don’t tell a lot of people that, I don’t really like the pity factor of it, and I don’t want you to pity me, but I mean, it’s kind of important,” At that moment, Mykah hugged him as hard as she could without breaking his bones. “What was that for?”

                “My dad died of cancer,” She said, getting a little emotional. “Have you heard of the Stiles Campaign?”

                “Yeah, they’re working to find cures and easier treatment options for terminal cancer, and just cancer in general,”

                “Well, my dad was Stiles. Stiles Stilinski Hale. He inspired one of his coworkers to create a program to help other people just before his passing. Our family endorses highly in it and we also donate a lot of money to it,” She looked up to the stars above her. It really was a beautiful night. “It’s still pretty important to us,” There was some awkward silence before it was broken. “So, may I ask, what type?”

                “Leukemia,” He said plainly. “It started about three years ago. I got these horrible bruises, and these aches in my joints. I never felt good. So, my parents took me in and that’s when they figured it out,”

                “I’m sorry,” She said, holding his hand as she cuddled a little closer to him on the top of the car.

                “What about your dad? What happened?” Mykah sighed.

                “Do you want the entire story?” Jake nodded. “Well, basically what happened is when he was eighteen, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. For a while they treated it with chemo until it was gone, but then a mass grew in his diaphragm. They waited to get it under control and he was in remission for ten years. Then one day he wasn’t feeling right, and my Uncle Scott said that he was acting weird and that he should get it checked out. Then, they found a mass inside his rib. Osteosarcoma. They removed it again, but he still had spots in the lining of his chest, and it got to a point to where the chemo just didn’t work, so he stopped it, and a few months later he died,” Mykah would get a little less emotional about it than she used to be about it. Mainly because even though it was sad, it was just cold, hard fact. “Well, let’s get on a less depressing note,”

                “I think I know,” Jake got close to Mykah, and she pushed her lips against his. She then grabbed his shoulders as they turned over and they continued to lock lips. She cried out his name as he separated his lips and went for her neck. She rolled them down into the back seat and Jake continued to kiss her as he put the top up on the car. She then grabbed for the zipper of his pants. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Mykah nodded as she pulled his pants down. She felt his hands reach up her back as he snagged the fabric of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Soon, she felt him shift as he slowly got inside of her. She heard him groan as he grinded into her. After what felt like forever, they finally separated. She heard the snap of a condom as Jake tied it off and slowly got his clothes back on. A sudden panicked urge came through her.

                “My dad’s gonna kill me,” She started to slightly hyperventilate.

                “I mean, he might not, he seemed to like me,” She shook her head.

                “No, you don’t understand, it’s,” She then heard a gunshot ring out and she got out of the car, shirt still in her hand. She heard another gunshot and felt an ache in her stomach. She looked down and saw that black goop was now pouring from the wound.

                “Oh my god Mykah, you’ve been shot, we need to take you to the hospital,” She started to spit the black sludge up and shook her head.

                “Just, no, we can’t, he’ll kill me,” She took her shirt and put it on, slowly pushing the fabric into the wound.               

                “Mykah, you might die,”

                “Just trust me on this, okay? I will explain later but go to the veterinary clinic,” Jake shook his head and threw the car in reverse. He drove like hell down the street as Mykah took napkins from the glove compartment and pushed onto the wound. Then, they got stuck in traffic. There must have been an accident on the freeway because it was backed up.

                “Ugh,” Jake groaned. “This isn’t good, just let me take a look, my parents are doctors,”

                “No it’s fine,”

                “MYKAH. Just let me take a look,” She sighed and lifted up her shirt as he turned on the interior lights. He saw how the wound wasn’t bleeding red. “Oh god, what is this?” She shook her head.

                “Just, I have some things to tell you, and you’re just going to have to trust me, do you?” Jake hesitantly shook his head. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she flicked them a brilliant gold. He stared at her in confusion and then in sudden realization. The traffic started to clear and Jake floored it the next couple of blocks to the clinic. She got out of the car, stumbling a bit. Jake carefully helped her to the door as Mykah banged on it. She knew the clinic was closed, but Deaton stayed late in case of supernatural emergency. “Deaton! It’s Mykah, please,” She begged at the door. She could smell him in there, and hear him move towards the door, the shades shuttering and the lock clunking and the door opening. She knew how it looked. Her boyfriend holding her as she would spit up black sludge. Deaton nodded and moved out of the way, crossing the room to the back with Mykah and Jake following. She sat on the table as Deaton carefully cut her shirt away (damn. That was a nice shirt, but with the black and blood stain wasn’t going to be redeemable either way) and pulled the bullet away from her. She growled at him, but once the bullet was out, the wound started to heal and she sighed.

                “Didn’t the last time you came here you told me that you hated Beacon Hills?” She nodded.

                “That was also when my dad was still alive. Things have changed,” She shrugged. Deaton handed her five rags.

                “Clean yourself up before you tell your dad the events of the night,” She stared at him, realizing he was talking about the _whole_ night.

                “He’s going to kill me,”

                “He might be more understanding than you think,” She shook her head.

                “Thanks again,”

                “No problem,” She guided Jake through the back entrance and they went back to the car.

                “So, are you going to tell me about any of this yet, or should we wait?”

                “Are you mad at me?”

                “Please, just answer my question,”

                “I mean, that’s going to determine what I tell you,” Jake let out a long sigh, like he was exhausted.

                “I’m not mad at you. I was never and won’t ever be mad at you for this, whatever it is,” Mykah nodded and released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

                “I, I’m going to need my dad to explain, just, he’s better at it,” Jake accepted that answer and started to drive home. Mykah took the clean rags and started mopping up the mess in the car that she made. “I’m sorry about the seat, and the carpet,”

                “It’s okay. As long as you’re okay,” After an awkward, completely silent drive back to Mykah’s house, she approached the door, where her dad stood. He watched as he sniffed the air, and then stared back at her.

                “Are you kidding me?” He said quietly, slightly angry. Mykah flinched and tensed her shoulders up.

                “Okay, well, it’s been a long night, can we just go inside, because we need to get some things established,”

                “Like how you smell like sexual desire?” She looked back at Jake, who still sat in the driver’s seat. She motioned for him to turn off the car and come to the door. He cautiously made his way over to them and they went inside, sitting on the couch. Mykah’s dad picked him up by the shirt collar so that they were eye to eye.

                “Three weeks?” He growled in his face. Jake was white as a sheet.

                “Dad! It wasn’t his idea! It was mine, alright! And I mean, you were a stupid teenager at one point too, remember Kate?” As soon as she said it, she wished she could have taken the words back. He dropped the poor boy on the floor as his face fell.

                “I just, I want to protect my pup, it’s a promise I made to your dad,”

                “I know, but I can protect myself now dad,” She pleaded. She looked into his eyes and he nodded his head.

                “Okay. But you have to explain why you don’t have your own shirt on,” She glanced at Jake, who was now on the couch, his eyes pleading of fear.

                “Well, you told me to be careful of supernatural shit, well, I guess some hunters were in the area and sensed me, and I stupidly got out of the car and got shot, so I had Jake drive me to Deaton’s, and my shirt was kind of a goner, but I haven’t told him anything, that’s what I want you to do,”

                “Are you okay?” She shook her head. He let out a sigh. “God, you’re so much like your dad sometimes,” She shrugged her shoulders and he sat across from Jake on the couch. He then glowed his eyes blue and Jake jumped a bit, Mykah holding his hand and putting another on his shoulder to calm him and tell him he would be okay.

                “As you’ve probably realized, there are some supernatural aspects in California,” Jake nodded, trying to be calm, but anxiety was coming off of him in a stench. “My family was born with the lycanthropy gene. Do you know what that is?” Jake gulped in some air.

                “Werewolves?” He looked at Mykah and she nodded.

                “Werewolves can hear more, see more, smell more, and heal. They also have emotional bonds to people. Most people would try to date another person after their spouse dies, but I’m not going to. Wolves mate for life. When I asked if you loved her, it was because if she loves you but you don’t love her back, it’s hard to break an emotional bond with a werewolf in the relationship. You guys might think it’s just high school love, but you need to make a commitment to her, or don’t,” Jake nodded. “That’s something you two can talk about later. But this is what we are. You are not to tell anyone unless it is a life or death situation, do you understand?”

                “Yes sir,”

                “Okay, well, I’m going to leave you two to talk about this,” Mykah’s dad went back upstairs, slipping his glasses down his face and Mykah immediately looked at Jake.

                “Do you love me?” She asked, getting close to him.

                “I’ve dated plenty of girls who wanted me to have sex with them, but I saved myself for someone as perfect as you,” Mykah blushed.

                “So,”

                “So, yes I love you. I love you a lot. I haven’t ever met anyone like you. And hell, I don’t know if I’ll relapse tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or even ever, but I still love you. Are we going to last forever? I don’t know, but this is me trying to make a commitment to you,” Mykah smiled.

                “I want to make a commitment to you too,” She kissed him on the cheek.

                “So, I’ll be by tomorrow, yeah?”  
                “Yeah,” Mykah smiled as Jake got up. She got up with him and hugged him, not wanting to let go. She even did the cliché “girl puts leg up during romantic hug/kiss” that they do in movies, and she was in love with him. She felt something in her heart when she looked up from the hug, and leap in for another kiss. They finally stopped and they were panting. Jake took a small curl of her hair and tucked it behind her ear.

                “Bye,” he said quietly before leaving. The door shut and she heard his car drive away. She went running up the stairs and into the study to where her dad was.

                “Dad, I feel something,” she said, standing in the doorway. He turned around and looked at her. She watched his nose wriggle again.

                “Mykah, I think he might be your mate,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Mykah was nervous to be on stage with Mr. Meyer. He had asked her to come for the premiere of her project. There were a lot of teachers who showed up, and also Mykah’s dad. Mr. Meyer patted her on the shoulder.

                “I’m proud of this, I’m proud of you,”

                “Thank you. You know, you never told me what this was for,”

                “You’ll find out soon,” He grabbed her hand and led her on the school’s stage, Mykah sitting in one of the chairs as Mr. Meyer was up at the podium. “Thank you all for being here. As you all know, every year around this time, the state gives away a scholarship for fine arts. Someone is picked within these groups: Theater production, music, art, and practical art. In the final people that were chosen, we had them do a video on how their lives were affected by one of the groups they belong in. Tonight, we are here to see the winning video,” Suddenly, Mykah knew why she was here.

                The video started and Mykah started to feel nervous.

                “Um, hey, I’m Mykah. So, if you’re watching this, it’s because Mr. Meyer asked me to make this video documentary on how music has affected my life. So, um, instruments I play include trumpet, alto sax, Bari sax, piano, guitar, and I can sing a little too. Music runs in my family. Well, my parents are quite different from most. I had two fathers, two, wonderful and loving fathers,” Mykah watched herself in the video grab for their engagement photo. “And my daddy, Stiles,” She pointed at his face in the picture. “He passed after a semi lengthy on and off battle with cancer. He was one of the people who inspired me to do music. He taught me all of the instruments I learned today, and he always encouraged me to be the best person I could be and to always express myself, and the only way that ever mattered to me was through music,” This was the part where she took the home video from when her and her dad were learning Viva la Vida on the piano. “Um, so to say that music has affected my life a lot would be an understatement. It’s shaped who I am today,” The video cut to when Mykah was playing trumpet with her dad and they played How High the Moon, and she soloed the whole song flawlessly for the first time. “Music makes me miss him a little less, it’s like he’s here with me. Like every time I put the trumpet to my lips, the mouthpiece of one of my saxes to my mouth, or a piano or guitar under my fingers, it’s like he’s sitting there with me, sitting next to me on the piano bench playing the lower chords, and it makes me a little less sad. Music is the reason that I get up in the morning, the reason that I talk, the reason I live my life, because without music, life would be meaningless to me,” This was the part in the video where Mykah was getting a little emotional. It switched to a couple of other videos that had 1-2-3 by Bruno Mars playing in the background.

                “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.” Her daddy sang as Mykah played the guitar. The video switched, when Mykah was about 8 playing Collar Full by Panic! At the Disco. “We’ve waited so damn long, we’re sick and tired. I won’t leave any doubt, or stone unturned. I’ve got a collar full, of chemistry from your company, so maybe tonight I’ll be the liberty,” That’s when in the video Mykah turned around and yelled at her dad. “Dad!”

                “Mykah, it was good!”

                “Dad, leave!” There was laughter that went through the audience and Mykah blushed. She didn’t think anyone was actually going to _watch_ it. The video finally ended and people started to stand up and clap. Mykah shyly stood up when Mr. Meyer signaled for her to.

                “The official winner of the $5,000 scholarship is Mykah Hale!” She smiled and everyone clapped. She wasn’t paying attention to the sound, but yet to something else that rang above the rest of the claps and voices.

                “I’m proud of you baby girl,” The voice said. She smiled. “You’re my warrior princess,” She put her hands over her mouth as tears ran down her eyes. Daddy. That was the word that she was screaming in her head. Daddy. Daddy I love you. Mr. Meyer handed her a small trophy and an envelope. She was smiling. Not for the fact of the scholarship. Yeah, it was amazing she was given the scholarship, but she just heard her dad. Her dad talked to her. The one who she hadn’t seen in six years.

                Once the ceremony was over, she went running towards her dad, still crying tears of joy.

                “Dad, I heard him, he was here dad!” She cried into his shoulder and he patted her. He then carried his 16 year old daughter out of the building and into the car.

                “I’m so proud of you pup,”

                “I love you,”

                “I love you more,”

                “I love you most,”

                                ~~~*~~~

                Mykah woke up in the middle of the night to the front door opening. She quickly went downstairs and saw at the door, her daddy, dressed in a striped cardigan, glasses on his face, and his smile bright.

                “My baby girl, come here,” She went running down the rest of the stairs and hugged him. She started to cry again.

                “Daddy, I’ve missed you so much!”

                “I know you have. Everything’s okay. I’ve been here the whole time with you,” She could feel his fingers run through her hair like he used to do.

                “Are you going to stay?”

                “I’ll stay as long as you want me to,”

                “I want you to stay forever,”

                “I want to stay forever, but I can’t. I’m only allowed so much time these days,”

                “Tuck me in, stay in my bed until I fall asleep?” He nodded and she smiled brightly. When she hopped up the stairs, she felt lighter, like a burden had been lifted off of her shoulders. She went into her room and watched as her dad tucked her in. His scent in her room was amazing, it made her feel like a kid again, and by then there were more tears going down her face. There’s so much she wanted to tell him, but she would never have the time, and she was sure that he knew. She cuddled close to them in her bed and he kissed her forehead, his arms around her as she put her head on his chest and slowly went to sleep.

                                ~~~*~~~

                The next morning, Mykah awoke to something in her arms. It was a black shirt, specifically her daddy’s Bastille bird shirt. She kept it in the back of her closet, it lost its scent years ago. She pulled the shirt close to her, the memories of last night slowly fading. She couldn’t recall if it was a dream or if it was real, but either way it was magical. She pulled the shirt closer to her face and inhaled. It smelled like him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will get a playlist going as soon as possible for this story and also both the stories. Also, please place your bids for an alternate ending if you want me to write it! I'm starting a couple of new stories (a one shot and a long story) so the sooner the better guys!  
> Prompts are always accepted, just get it to me anywhere and I'll write it :)  
> For anyone who has scene requests from the fic for me to draw, please don't hesitate to ask, and I'll have links up as soon as possible for that also  
> If you want to talk, have questions, anything, don't be afraid to contact me :)   
> Thanks to all of your support! I love y'all!


	11. Alternate Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS AN ALTERNATE ENDING! I didn't want the story to end like this, but I'm making an alternate ending due to the request. Next, I'll make a playlist of this story (I might post one for the whole series, I'm not sure yet). This is going to take off after Stiles is taken to the hospital for major pain (Seriously, this story is a monstrosity and I can't find the exact chapter).

**Stiles:** Stiles woke up, freaked out. He was breathing heavily and he didn't know where he was. He looked around to realize it was the hospital. A few memories of what had happened the last time he saw his family flooded through his brain. He had the most awful dream. It was like watching a movie of everyone else revolving around you, and it hurt knowing how much his loss would hurt his family. He looked to his left to see his beautiful husband holding his hand, staring at him with those big emerald eyes.

       "How long have I been out?"

       "Just a little but, but you're back to us, and that's all that matters,"

      "Derek, how long?"

      "About three weeks. I don't know what happened, but you didn't wake up after surgery,"

      "What's the bad news?"

      "You've been here for three weeks. They got it all Stiles. You're going to be okay," Stiles sighed relief and felt himself start to cry.

      "That's great! Oh Derek, I had the worst dream, you have no clue. I watched myself slowly die for about another six months before I finally died. You two were crying, and she wasn't the same, and you weren't the same, and God, I'll never do that to you Derek, I promise, I'm so sorry!"

      "You're okay now. That's all that matters," Derek hugged Stiles as hard as he could, Stiles feeling is ribs shift in his chest. And everything was okay. Everything was going to be okay this time.

**Author's Note:**

> I constantly take prompts for art and fanfiction on my [Tumblr](dances-with-wolvess.tumblr.com) . Feel free to join me! And I live tweet all of the new episodes, so feel free to join me on [Twitter ](twitter.com/sterekislifee) too!


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